The next target of the SEC is Coinbase. But why? –

  • The SEC will be targeting Coinbase for not listing the securities
  • The authority has filed case against company’s former product manager, his brother and his friend

Coinbase, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, is now the prime target of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Last week, the authority filed a case against the former product manager of the company along with his brother and his friend, claiming them as a suspect of insider trading. Previously, the company has also fired more than 20% of its employees pointing to overhiring. 

Bloomberg has reported the authority is investigating Coinbase for supposedly listing securities on its exchange. 

According to the reports, the authority was looking into the company in the matter of giving permission to the citizens of the United States to trade assets that must have been listed as securities on its exchange.

However, the allegation might be an investigation on the insider trading case of the ex- employee. 

CEO of Coinbase did not obeyed to the SEC

The Securities Exchange Commission said that they found nine tokens that should have been registered as securities. On this basis, the company may be summoned. 

Last year, Gary Gensler, the SEC chair, asked Coinbase to register as a securities exchange. But, the Chief Executive officer of the company, Brian Armstrong refused to do that, stating registering each token on the platform legally has many drawbacks which will eventually affect the crypto ecosystem adversely.

Faryar Shirzad, who is the chief policy officer at Coinbase, also backed the statement by the CEO.

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Over 150 tokens has been registered

The company has not responded to the investigation openly at the time of writing. But, it looks like the company intends to change the matter into an argument as it has issued two different statements. The first one is about registering securities and the second one is about suitable crypto laws.

Concluding this, Coinbase claimed that crypto is totally different from stocks and should not work under the same law process. 

The United States comes under one of the largest markets of Coinbase. The company has currently registered more than 150 tokens but on the other hand the company says that they have not registered the securities and also they don’t want to be on the authority’s radar.

The steps taken by the authority on some companies like Ripple shows that there will be no option left for the Coinbase excluding facing the investigation.

Nancy J. Allen
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Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/07/27/the-next-target-of-the-sec-is-coinbase-but-why/