The crypto industry is bracing itself for a key legal altercation between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and leading exchange Coinbase over whether certain digital assets constitute as securities and should be registered with the watchdog.
This week, the SEC issued a “Wells Notice” to Coinbase, signaling its potential to take legal action against the exchange for alleged violations of securities laws. Coinbase has responded by saying it is ready to fight the regulators in court, in a battle that could provide clarity on when tokens become securities, and determine the future of digital asset trading regulations.
Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, argued that it was taking the SEC to court because the securities regulator had “simply has not been fair or reasonable when it comes to its engagement on digital assets,” without offering definitive guidance for registering new products.
Meanwhile, the SEC has told investors to be aware that they could lose money in the industry, and touted the U.S. regulator’s role in protecting investors from fraud.
In non-legalese, the SEC had apparently sent Coinbase (COIN) a stern warning that it could soon face an enforcement action for potential unregistered securities, probably related to its spot exchange, staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet.
Such warnings don’t always lead to enforcement actions, but in this situation, the SEC believes that Coinbase has acted in violation of securities laws by trading without registration and secretly offering staking services.
The SEC has targeted other leading crypto exchanges before using a specialty in monetary fines, which could be the case here. For example, the regulator fined exchange Kraken $1.25 million last month due to the “violations of certain of its responsibilities as a registered broker-dealer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.” Kraken’s founder, Jesse Powell, was highly critical of the regulator’s stance, calling it “paternalistic and lazy.”
Coinbase, on the other hand, is taking a stronger approach. In July, the firm petitioned the SEC to explain how digital assets could fit within securities laws, and has been in over 60 different discussions with the agency over asset listing and registration questions.
As the SEC and Coinbase wrestle in a legal showdown, the action has been met with a broad range of emotions from the crypto community. While Coinbase’s stock has taken a hit in after-hours trading, Paul Grewal noted that Coinbase welcomed the notice, as it offers a more concrete platform for taking definitive decisions regarding digital asset regulations.
At the same time, last Wednesday also marked a separate SEC lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun for his alleged violation of securities laws, highlighting a worrying trend in the enforcement agency’s attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry.
The Wells notice arrives against the backdrop of a Congress and regulators taking a slowly yet steady stance towards the emerging asset class. Both Coinbase and the SEC have been vocal in the push for definitive rules and regulations, with the exchange creating a political organization, “Crypto435”, to advocate for the broader digital asset industry.
Yet there is still a higher level of uncertainty that needs to be addressed, and the regulation of assets such as Bitcoin or Ethereum remains widely contested due to its fluctuating nature and the lack of sector-specific legislation.
That is why this court resolution between the SEC and Coinbase could decide the long-term future of the crypto industry, and move the needle in terms of setting much-needed digital asset regulations. Unless neither the regulators or Congress can produce such rules, the court’s judgment over the matter could determine for good whether digital assets are securities and how to properley register products.
