Coinbase has sued the US market regulator SEC. He wanted the SEC to be clear on its stance on cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has filed a lawsuit with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Coinbase submitted a petition to the SEC in 2022. This petition demanded that the SEC propose clear and solution-oriented rules on crypto. However, the SEC did not respond to this petition.
Coinbase wanted the SEC to be clear on how securities laws apply to the crypto industry. The exchange, which filed a lawsuit with the SEC, requested a response to the petition on whether it would allow the crypto industry to be regulated under SEC rules.
Coinbase used the following statements on the subject:
From the SEC’s public statements and enforcement activities in the crypto industry, it looks like the SEC has already decided to reject our petition. But they haven’t told the public yet.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler did not respond to an Ethereum-related securities question while answering crypto-related questions in the House of Representatives. Gensler’s stance was interpreted as the SEC still had not come up with a clear roadmap. Gensler, who has recently been accused of overstepping his authority, is accused of driving crypto companies away from the United States.
The SEC & the Chair Gary Gensler have become much more anti-crypto recently. Each time SEC has taken an action or Gensler made a decision, this would somehow benefit the Wall Street (or SBF & FTX Alameda in past). In general, the establishment Wall Street finance & banking system has always viewed cryptocurrencies and the blockchain tech as the potential foe and threat. Therefore, this finance lobby power had indirectly (with the help of political lobbyists and favorable Fed bureaucrats) blocked or slowed crypto regulatory & legal processes/procedures. That’s why the US crypto market has to operate under legal uncertainty where each US Federal agency treats them differently in terms of how this agency legally views cryptocurrencies – some treating crypto as assets, others as securities or a property.
The EU is far ahead of the US with the MICA Act. That’s why the US has to move swiftly and adopt much cleaner & well-defined set of rules and regulations, overall regulatory framework. And this is an absolute must for the crypto mass adoption, blockchain tech’s more rapid growth & development.
And those on the Wall Street who saw significant potential in the crypto & blockchain have become major actors, investors and crypto asset holders. This is exactly what had fueled the past bull run, the entrance of the smaller scale and individual organizational money & funds.
Hopefully more crypto-knowledgeable and crypto friendly politicians lead this policy debate and legal & regulatory changes.
Gensler did an extremely good job in not answering any questions during the grilling and that’s precisely what he was there at the hearing for: Not to answer any questions! I don’t think the crypto & blockchain community of USA will see any significant policy shifts very soon.