The US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) reportedly requested Coinbase to cease buying and selling in all cryptocurrencies in addition to Bitcoin.
In an interview with the Monetary Instances, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO, revealed the US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) requested Coinbase to halt buying and selling in all cryptocurrencies besides Bitcoin earlier than launching its authorized assault towards the trade.
Final month, the SEC initiated authorized motion towards Coinbase for failing to register as a dealer. The regulator recognized 13 cryptocurrencies on Coinbase’s platform as securities, arguing that by providing such tokens, Coinbase has come inside the SEC’s regulatory ambit.
The SEC’s transfer to have Coinbase delist greater than 200 tokens it presents, save for Bitcoin, might recommend a broader regulatory ambition underneath SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Armstrong instructed the FT,
“[The SEC] got here again to us, and so they mentioned… we consider each asset aside from Bitcoin is a safety… And so they mentioned, we’re not going to clarify it to you, it is advisable delist each asset aside from Bitcoin.”
This assertion by the SEC, if agreed upon by Coinbase, might have seen a majority of American crypto companies working outdoors authorized parameters until they registered with the fee.
In response to the SEC’s request, Armstrong acknowledged:
“We actually didn’t have a selection at that time, delisting each asset aside from Bitcoin, which by the way in which will not be what the regulation says, would have primarily meant the top of the crypto trade within the US.”
Gensler has beforehand proposed that the majority cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin being the exception, are securities. But, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency pivotal to many trade initiatives, was conspicuously absent from the SEC’s case towards Coinbase. It additionally didn’t seem within the SEC’s checklist of 12 “crypto asset securities” within the lawsuit towards Binance.
Based on the FT, whereas the SEC denied making formal requests for corporations to delist crypto belongings, the company did acknowledge that its workers may share views on what conduct might increase questions underneath securities legal guidelines throughout an investigation.
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