The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged investors to exercise caution when investing in cryptoasset securities.

The agency's Office of Investors Education and Advocacy warned that the platforms offering crypto trading may not be complying with federal securities statutes.

The SEC has previously attempted to demonstrate that many crypto exchanges are operating as unregistered securities exchanges in the U.S., with agency Chair Gary Gensler himself having frequently voiced this view.

The regulator's warning comes the day after Coinbase (COIN) disclosed the SEC issued it a so-called Wells notice, indicating a possible imminent enforcement action tied to its listing of potentially unregistered securities. Coinbase's Nasdaq-listed shares were hit hard by this news, slumping as much as 20% in early trading on Thursday. At the time of writing, they are have recovered around half of their losses, down 10% at $69.32.

(By Jamie Crawley)