SEC Denies Coinbase’s Petition for Clear Crypto Regulation — Exchange Responds by Taking the Regulator to Court

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s petition for regulatory clarity in the crypto industry. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler backs his agency’s decision to deny Coinbase’s petition. In response, Coinbase has pursued legal action against the securities regulator to challenge this decision.

Coinbase Challenging SEC’s Decision in Court

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied Coinbase Global’s Petition for Rulemaking. The crypto exchange filed the petition in July last year, seeking regulatory clarity, including “potential rules to identify which digital assets are securities.” With no response from the SEC for 18 months, the crypto exchange escalated the matter to court, prompting the agency to respond with the denial on Friday.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler issued a statement regarding the denial:

I was pleased to support the Commission’s decision for three reasons.

“First, existing laws and regulations apply to the crypto securities markets. Second, the SEC addresses the crypto securities markets through rulemaking as well. Third, it is important to maintain Commission discretion in setting its own rulemaking priorities,” Gensler detailed.

Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, commented on X: “Today the SEC denied Coinbase’s petition for rules for crypto. After 18 months of silence, we went to court to get the response the law requires. With appreciation for the Third Circuit, later today we’ll again seek its help by challenging the SEC’s abdication of its duty.”

In a follow-up post, Grewal revealed:

Promise made, promise kept: we are now on file with Third Circuit to challenge the SEC’s arbitrary and capricious denial of our petition for crypto rulemaking. We again appreciate the court’s consideration.

The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, wrote on X: “We went to court to challenge the SEC’s refusal to create clear rules for the industry — and it worked (a court compelled them to respond).” The executive added: “Now that they’ve formally responded (with a no!) we can challenge their response in court, which helps us get one step closer to regulatory clarity. The question is why doesn’t the SEC want to clarify outstanding regulatory questions for the crypto industry?”

What do you think about the SEC denying Coinbase’s petition seeking regulatory clarity for the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below.