Cryptoverse: Security alert! Altcoins worth US$100bil dropped in hot water

FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, DogeCoin, Ripple, Litecoin are placed on PC motherboard in this illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

IT'S a rough time to be an altcoin. Insecurity reigns.

A slew of altcoins - a catch-all for most cryptocurrencies except bitcoin and ether - have been harpooned in lawsuits filed by U.S. regulators against exchanges Binance and Coinbase last week, hammering the prices of the tokens.