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

FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrencies plunge into water in this illustration taken, May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

(Reuters) - 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.