Coinbase CEO Responds to SEC Lawsuit Accusing Crypto Exchange of Securities Law Violations

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has responded to the suit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against his cryptocurrency exchange. The securities regulator charged Coinbase with “operating its crypto plus trading level arsenic an unregistered nationalist securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency,” arsenic good arsenic selling unregistered securities “in transportation with its staking-as-a-service program.”

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Addresses SEC Charges

The main enforcement of the Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency speech Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, took to Twitter Tuesday to code the suit filed against his speech by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The securities regulator charged Coinbase with “operating its crypto plus trading level arsenic an unregistered nationalist securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency,” arsenic good arsenic selling unregistered securities “in transportation with its staking-as-a-service program.”

Armstrong tweeted: “Regarding the SEC ailment against america today, we’re arrogant to correspond the manufacture successful tribunal to yet get immoderate clarity astir crypto rules.” The Coinbase enforcement proceeded to outline a fig of factors affecting his exchange’s alleged securities instrumentality violations. He detailed:

There is nary way to ‘come successful and register’ — we tried, repeatedly — truthful we don’t database securities. We cull the immense bulk of assets we review.

Coinbase likewise stated successful March, aft it received a Wells notice from the SEC, that it tried to registry with the regulator but the securities watchdog “will not fto crypto companies ‘come successful and register.'”

Furthermore, Armstrong pointed retired successful his Tuesday tweet that the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “have made conflicting statements, and don’t adjacent hold connected what is simply a information and what is simply a commodity.” One of the cardinal topics that the 2 regulatory agencies disagree connected is the classification of ether (ETH). While SEC Chair Gary Gensler claims that all crypto tokens, different than bitcoin (BTC), are securities, the president of the CFTC, Rostin Behnam, has insisted that the second-largest cryptocurrency is simply a commodity.

Emphasizing the deficiency of regulatory clarity successful the crypto space, the Coinbase brag stressed:

This is wherefore the U.S. Congress is introducing caller authorities to hole the situation, and the remainder of the satellite is moving to enactment wide rules successful spot to enactment this technology.

“Instead of publishing a wide regularisation book, the SEC has taken a regularisation by enforcement attack that is harming America. So if we request to avail ourselves of the courts to get clarity, truthful beryllium it,” the Coinbase CEO added.

Armstrong besides noted: “The SEC reviewed our concern and allowed america to go a nationalist institution successful 2021.” However, aggregate radical person pointed retired connected Twitter that the suit intelligibly states that “Declaring effectual a Form S-1 registration connection does not represent an SEC oregon unit sentiment on, oregon endorsement of, the legality of an issuer’s underlying business.”

After the securities watchdog announced its enactment against Coinbase, galore radical took to societal media to slam the SEC for regulating the crypto manufacture by enforcement. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) wrote: “The SEC is weaponizing their relation to termination an industry. Allowing a institution to database publically and past stonewalling their attempts to registry is indefensible.” Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) opined: “The SEC has failed to supply a way for integer plus exchanges to register, and adjacent worse has failed to supply capable ineligible guidance connected what differentiates a information from a commodity.”

One time anterior to charging Coinbase, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ). In addition, the regulator filed an exigency enactment application, requesting a impermanent restraining bid to freeze the assets of Binance US customers.

What bash you deliberation astir Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s statements regarding the SEC lawsuit? Let america cognize successful the comments conception below.