- Coinbase has held the stance that crypto assets are not securities but instead are digital commodities.
- The Donald Trump administration has been working with Congress to enact bi-partisan clear crypto regulations.
- The U.S. SEC under Paul Atkins has been dropping crypto cases to await clear directions from Congress.
In a surprising twist of events, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who is affiliated with the Democratic Party, filed a securities enforcement action against Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) on Friday, April 18. Rayfield will be picking up from where former SEC Chair Gary Gensler left in asserting that Coinbase has over the years operated an unregistered securities exchange and a broker-dealer.
“In case you think I’m jumping to conclusions, the AG’s office made it clear to us that they are literally picking up where the Gary Gensler SEC left off. Seriously,” Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, noted.
Grewal pointed out that the lawsuit may hamper efforts by bipartisan lawmakers to pass comprehensive federal legislation for digital assets.
“Oregon’s holdout campaign is obstruction for the sake of obstruction. It is a desperate scheme that does nothing to move the crypto conversation forward, and in fact takes us a giant leap backward from hard-won progress,” Grewal added.
Impact of the Revived Coinbase Lawsuit
As Coinpedia reported, the U.S. SEC, under the Donald Trump administration, dismissed the Coinbase case with prejudice, meaning the case was permanently closed and cannot be brought back to the court. However, Oregon’s AG case against Coinbase changes the dynamics amid the ongoing global trade war
The announcement did not negatively impact Coinbase services or its stock market on Friday. Moreover, the mainstream confidence in Coinbase has significantly grown in the recent past, with the anticipated crypto regulatory framework ahead.
Meanwhile, Coinbase announced that it will do whatever is required to beat the case against Oregon’s AG.
