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They filed a petition which SEC failed to address. The result is Coinbase suing SEC. Now, SEC sues Coinbase back. Seriously, wtf? SEC needs a massive slap on th

They filed a petition which SEC failed to address. The result is Coinbase suing SEC. Now, SEC sues Coinbase back. Seriously, wtf? SEC needs a massive slap on their hands. If they lack expertise and don't have enough knowledge (literally), then whoever works there should go "back to school" (figuratively speaking), learn all the ins and outs of crypto, and only after consider joining the SEC as an employee. https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5PWsXaPsqQ61gA9wlFWKEX/d1d3a27d35687082565770589ef9a3ac/Coinbase_-_Mandamus_Petition__TO_FILE_.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/c5bd0wqjc7v0/5PWsXaPsqQ61gA9wlF... Coinbase brings this mandamus action to seek modest, but meaningful and time-sensitive, relief: a writ requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) to act on Coinbase’s pending rulemaking petition to provide clarity for the crypto industry. Coinbase does not ask the Court to instruct the agency how to respond. It simply requests that the Court order the SEC to respond at all. The Commission has repeatedly demonstrated that its mind is made up to deny the petition. But the Commission’s delay in formally announcing that decision has enabled it to improperly delay judicial review at a critical moment for the industry.

dragontamer 3y ago
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-102 https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-102 > “We allege that Coinbase, despite being subject to the securities laws, commingled and unlawfully offered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse functions,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “In other parts of our securities markets, these functions are separate. Coinbase’s alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC. Further, as we allege, Coinbase never registered its staking-as-a-service program as required by the securities laws, again depriving investors of critical disclosure and other protections.” Seems rather straightforward to me given this press release. Quit comingling functions. Bring your exchange to proper legal structure in the USA. Split the broker-dealer and clearinghouse functions off. And quit operating Coinbase Earn, which is an obvious security by any other name. Either that, or properly register Coinbase Earn as a security before offering it as a product to the public. If you are to keep operating Coinbase Earn, then bring it under security regulations, which means reporting upon your assets and such under whatever filing system you want (probably bonds?) Its... not even that hard to read the SEC complaint. Just read it, the complaint is right there for all of us to see.
- andreygrehov 3y ago
  This is indeed straightforward, but I'm not complaining about it. If all of these requirements had been outlined by the SEC prior to the release of the products, Coinbase would've followed the rules. Now when all of these products are in production, the SEC woke up and like: "heeey, this is a security, you must follow the rules". But there were no rules before. So, shall Coinbase just sit there and wait while the SEC learns more about blockchains? I don't know if there was any "warning" from the SEC, but if not, they should've published a public one first: "Due to X, Y and Z, the SEC gives Coinbase 6 months to split the broker-dealer and clearinghouse functions off".
  - dragontamer 3y ago
    > But there were no rules before. The rules always were there. Just that the SEC was willing to turn a blind eye for years on this issue. The reason why SEC couldn't ignore this anymore is FTX and SBF. It became clear that cryptocoins are full of fraudsters, and the cryptocoin community has absolutely no way to differentiate from the fraudsters and the legitimate groups. SEC is simply not in a position to keep turning a blind eye to the cryptocoin world after $10,000,000,000+ was stolen by FTX and SBF.

dragontamer 3y ago

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-102 https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-102 > “We allege that Coinbase, despite being subject to the securities laws, commingled and unlawfully offered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse functions,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “In other parts of our securities markets, these functions are separate. Coinbase’s alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC. Further, as we allege, Coinbase never registered its staking-as-a-service program as required by the securities laws, again depriving investors of critical disclosure and other protections.” Seems rather straightforward to me given this press release. Quit comingling functions. Bring your exchange to proper legal structure in the USA. Split the broker-dealer and clearinghouse functions off. And quit operating Coinbase Earn, which is an obvious security by any other name. Either that, or properly register Coinbase Earn as a security before offering it as a product to the public. If you are to keep operating Coinbase Earn, then bring it under security regulations, which means reporting upon your assets and such under whatever filing system you want (probably bonds?) Its... not even that hard to read the SEC complaint. Just read it, the complaint is right there for all of us to see.

andreygrehov 3y ago
This is indeed straightforward, but I'm not complaining about it. If all of these requirements had been outlined by the SEC prior to the release of the products, Coinbase would've followed the rules. Now when all of these products are in production, the SEC woke up and like: "heeey, this is a security, you must follow the rules". But there were no rules before. So, shall Coinbase just sit there and wait while the SEC learns more about blockchains? I don't know if there was any "warning" from the SEC, but if not, they should've published a public one first: "Due to X, Y and Z, the SEC gives Coinbase 6 months to split the broker-dealer and clearinghouse functions off".
- dragontamer 3y ago
  > But there were no rules before. The rules always were there. Just that the SEC was willing to turn a blind eye for years on this issue. The reason why SEC couldn't ignore this anymore is FTX and SBF. It became clear that cryptocoins are full of fraudsters, and the cryptocoin community has absolutely no way to differentiate from the fraudsters and the legitimate groups. SEC is simply not in a position to keep turning a blind eye to the cryptocoin world after $10,000,000,000+ was stolen by FTX and SBF.