It seems that Binance is not the only prominent player in the crypto industry that is being targeted by the SEC.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a new lawsuit, this time against Coinbase – the leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange and a publicly-traded company in the US.
SEC Accuses Coinbase of Breaching Securities Laws
In the latest lawsuit, the SEC has accused Coinbase of violating securities laws as the leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange.
According to 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 accused Coinbase of making deliberate decisions to earn billions, but in doing so, “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, the CEO at Coinbase, has yet to respond to the accusations, but he has previously urged US regulators for more clarity.
As of the premarket, COIN shares are already down over 15% on the day.
SEC Claims These Coins are Securities
The SEC’s primary allegation is that Coinbase is facilitating the trade of unregistered securities. As a result, the SEC has classified several coins as securities, including:
- SOL
- ADA
- MATIC
- FIL
- SAND
- AXS
Other coins named by the SEC include CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, NEXO, and more.
