- SEC told Coinbase to stop trading altcoins before going to court.
- After the regulator’s recommendation, Coinbase filed a countersuit in court.
- The exchange’s executive director Brian Armstrong believes the SEC is abusing its power.
Before filing the lawsuit, the SEC asked cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to trade only bitcoin.
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong told the Financial Times that the SEC made the recommendation even before going to court.
The platform’s chief executive clarified that the regulator believes the U.S. cryptocurrency exchange should refuse to trade cryptocurrencies except bitcoin. This decision was due to Coinbase’s failure to register with Nasdaq as a broker.
On June 6, 2023, the SEC charged Coinbase with violating the federal securities laws. The Commission alleged that the platform was trading in unregistered securities. In turn, exchange officials responded that the SEC was abusing its authority.
“They told us – we’re not going to explain anything. You just need to exclude all assets other than bitcoin from the list. Such a recommendation left us no choice but to go to court. Excluding all assets would mean the end of the crypto industry in the United States,” said Brian Armstrong.
Earlier, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said that all PoS-based digital assets are securities. However, the regulator has not previously asked companies to “exclude altcoins from the list of traded assets.”
The regulator has not previously asked companies to “exclude altcoins from the list of traded assets.