5 ms·

There's a line of critique that says it's unfair for the government to have allowed Coinbase to break the law for so long, and then change their mind. But in t

There's a line of critique that says it's unfair for the government to have allowed Coinbase to break the law for so long, and then change their mind. But in the American system, the burden of proof is on the government (SEC) to prove the behavior is actually illegal and until then, Coinbase was presumed innocent and had the freedom to continue doing what they want. What's frustrating for crypto advocates is they were unable to use the 5yr analysis period to convince society to legalize their behavior (in the way that Uber/Lyft were able). But this is one of the things the American system gets very right. A "trial" period where new behavior is allowed until the Executive branch can either prove its illegal, or Legislative branch can explicitly make it legal. It's an expensive system that achieves a balance between regulation and experimentation.

obblekk 3y ago
@dang was this comment deleted from the comments page for this article?
zorked 3y ago
"Do something in a limbo for 5 years then find out whether you will go to jail or not". Great system.
- soufron 3y ago
  who said it was a limbo? they only pretended it was.
darkwizard42 3y ago
I mean Coinbase literally sued the SEC to get them to define more appropriate rules. So I have a hard time buying that Coinbase just ran away with it and didn't try to get things more legalized. They realized there was jeopardy in how they operated and wanted to get things clarified.
- ceejayoz 3y ago
  > I mean Coinbase literally sued the SEC to get them to define more appropriate rules. By which they mean "we don't like the ones you told us about". https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5NRidtW8lvwVEfSHpndWQm/78f95afa4f0ebaaefb303e1a4f172d03/Coinbase_petition_for_SEC_rulemaking.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5NRidtW8lvwVEfSHpn... > Rather than initiate new rulemaking, Chair Gensler has repeatedly stated through speeches and testimony that the vast majority of digital tokens are securities, and has asked issuers and exchanges that offer, sell, and trade them to come in and register. We disagree that the majority of digital assets are securities. For those digital assets that are securities, registration under the current rules is, for many market participants, either not possible or not economically viable given the associated and unnecessary compliance burdens. Coinbase: "Plz make rules." SEC: "We already have them." Coinbase: Yes, but we don't like those ones."
- usea 3y ago
  They need to do more than try to get things more legalized. They have to succeed. Or they get sued for breaking the law. If people don't agree that it should be legal, then oh well. That's the risk.
JeremyNT 3y ago
The problem here is how many regular people got scammed in that window while crypto scams were essentially entirely unregulated. The lack of any meaningful oversight of this stuff for so long is a bug, not a feature.
- piva00 3y ago
  The justification will be that regulation stifles innovation, which I always conclude that America is a business-first country, humans after, and caring for the lives of people is bad for business.

obblekk 3y ago

@dang was this comment deleted from the comments page for this article?

zorked 3y ago

"Do something in a limbo for 5 years then find out whether you will go to jail or not". Great system.

soufron 3y ago
who said it was a limbo? they only pretended it was.

darkwizard42 3y ago

I mean Coinbase literally sued the SEC to get them to define more appropriate rules. So I have a hard time buying that Coinbase just ran away with it and didn't try to get things more legalized. They realized there was jeopardy in how they operated and wanted to get things clarified.

ceejayoz 3y ago
> I mean Coinbase literally sued the SEC to get them to define more appropriate rules. By which they mean "we don't like the ones you told us about". https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5NRidtW8lvwVEfSHpndWQm/78f95afa4f0ebaaefb303e1a4f172d03/Coinbase_petition_for_SEC_rulemaking.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5NRidtW8lvwVEfSHpn... > Rather than initiate new rulemaking, Chair Gensler has repeatedly stated through speeches and testimony that the vast majority of digital tokens are securities, and has asked issuers and exchanges that offer, sell, and trade them to come in and register. We disagree that the majority of digital assets are securities. For those digital assets that are securities, registration under the current rules is, for many market participants, either not possible or not economically viable given the associated and unnecessary compliance burdens. Coinbase: "Plz make rules." SEC: "We already have them." Coinbase: Yes, but we don't like those ones."
usea 3y ago
They need to do more than try to get things more legalized. They have to succeed. Or they get sued for breaking the law. If people don't agree that it should be legal, then oh well. That's the risk.

JeremyNT 3y ago

The problem here is how many regular people got scammed in that window while crypto scams were essentially entirely unregulated. The lack of any meaningful oversight of this stuff for so long is a bug, not a feature.

piva00 3y ago
The justification will be that regulation stifles innovation, which I always conclude that America is a business-first country, humans after, and caring for the lives of people is bad for business.