Coinbase Leadership Says SEC Will Drop Its Lawsuit Against the Exchange

Brian Armstrong, CEO and co-founder of Coinbase, speaks during a conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on May 2, 2022. Patrick Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will drop a key suit against the company.

On Feb. 21, Coinbase Global Inc. Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal published a blog post on the company’s website that said the SEC’s staff has “agreed in principle to dismiss its unlawful enforcement case against Coinbase, subject to Commissioner approval.”

“Today’s announcement confirms that this case should never have been filed in the first place,” Grewal said. “This is a victory not just for Coinbase, but for our customers, the United States, and individual freedom.”

Representatives of SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Shares of Coinbase rose in premarket trading on Friday morning, but as of about 11 a.m. ET, the price of the New York-based company’s stock had fallen to about $256.30 a share. It closed on Feb. 20 at $256.59 a share.

As of about 11 a.m. ET on Friday, the price of bitcoin, the main cryptocurrency traded on Coinbase’s platform, rose to $97,996.24 a token from $97,216.21 a token at the same time on Thursday.

In his blog post, Grewal said the lawsuit against Coinbase was “political” and said the agency was conducting a “war against crypto.”

On Friday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on social media platform X that he expects the SEC will formally dismiss its litigation against Coinbase before the end of February. He also blamed the litigation on former SEC Chair Gary Gensler and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who he said “orchestrated this unlawful action.”

Gensler, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, resigned on Jan. 20 ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. On Jan. 21, Trump named Mark Uyeda the acting chairman.

Armstrong said the SEC would have lost on the merits of the law because it was exceeding its congressional authority by asking Coinbase “to delist a number of assets that were not securities.”

Armstrong went on to say that “caving to their demands could have killed the crypto industry in America.”

Armstrong and Grewal both expressed optimism that the United States will soon enact new laws governing the cryptocurrency industry.

“It is critical that we pass legislation which provides the long-term certainty needed for the US to lead in this industry,” Grewal said. “Clarity will bring new inflows of capital into the US, update our financial system so consumers pay lower fees, and help create economic freedom for all.”

Coinbase declined to offer further comment beyond what Grewal and Armstrong said on Friday.