Coinbase The US Court of Appeals has reportedly asked it to rule that trading crypto assets on its platform is not a securities transaction but a sale of assets.
The company stated this in a petition to the court, which is part of an appeal related to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in 2023 alleging that Coinbase operated as an unregistered securities broker, Seeking Alpha reported Wednesday (January 22).
According to the report, Coinbase explained in its petition that trades on its platform are not securities transactions because buyers do not acquire rights against the issuer of the asset, as is the case with stocks, bonds and other securities.
A decision on this issue “will allow the court to clear the cloud that currently hangs over the cryptocurrency market,” the company said, according to the report.
The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023, alleging that the platform allowed its own users to trade unregistered securities.
Gurbir S. Grewalwho was then director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in one Press release announced the lawsuit: “You cannot simply ignore the rules because you don’t like them or because you would prefer others: the consequences for the investing public are far too great.”
In a statement to PYMNTS at the time, Coinbase’s chief legal officer and general counsel said Paul Grewal said: “The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement-only approach in the absence of clear rules for the digital asset industry is harming America’s economic competitiveness and companies like Coinbase that have a proven commitment to compliance.”
In September, in one thread In a post on
“Regulation through enforcement only harms American consumers, innovation, U.S. competitiveness, and our national security,” wrote Paul Grewal. “Coinbase is committed to our efforts to provide clarity for our industry and the millions of Americans who own cryptocurrencies.”
On Tuesday (January 21), the SEC decided under the leadership of the acting chairman Mark T. Uyedahas launched a crypto task force focused on developing a “comprehensive and clear” regulatory framework for crypto assets.
