It appears Binance is not the only crypto heavyweight that the SEC is aimed at.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has just filed another lawsuit – this time against the leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange and a publicly-traded company in the US – Coinbase.
In a brand new lawsuit, this time, the SEC has aimed at Coinbase – the leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange.
Per the document itself:
Since at least 2019, through the Coinbase Platform, Coinbase has operated as: an unregistered broker, including by soliciting potential investors, handling customer funds and assets, and charging transaction-based fees; an unregistered exchange, including by providing a market place that, among other things, brings together orders of multiple buyers and sellers of crypto assets and matches those orders; and an unregistered clearing agency…”
In an official tweet, the agency also said that Coinbase has made calculated decisions to earn billions, but they were done “at the expense of investors by depriving them of the protections to which they are entitled.”
Today we charged Coinbase, Inc. with operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency and for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program. pic.twitter.com/hCdVMw8B2v
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) June 6, 2023
Brian Armstrong – CEO at Coinbase – is yet to respond. However, he has come forward multiple times, urging US regulators for more clarity.
COIN shares are already trading more than 15% down on the day in the premarket.
The major claim is that Coinbase is facilitating the trade of unregistered securities. As such, the SEC has named multiple coins to be, in fact, classified as securities. These include:
Others also include CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, NEXO, and so forth.
