Coinbase, SEC Reach Agreement to Dismiss Lawsuit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached an agreement to dismiss its lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase, pending approval by the regulator, according to the firm's CEO Brian Armstrong.

In a tweet, Armstrong said that the agreement was "hugely vindicating," accusing the regulator of having used "mafia tactics" while pursuing its lawsuit against the exchange.

Armstrong added that the SEC was "wrong on the law," and that its actions "could have killed the crypto industry in America."

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal tweeted that "there will be no settlement or compromise—a wrong will simply be made right."

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Decrypt.

The SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase

In June 2023, after having issued a Wells notice earlier that year, the SEC filed its complaint spanning more than 100 pages. The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleged that Coinbase knowingly operated an unregistered securities exchange for a decade.

In making those allegations, the SEC also called out by name a handful of altcoins like Solana and Polygon.

The full list includes: Binance’s BNB token, the exchange's sunsetted stablecoin, BUSD, and 10 other tokens: Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Filecoin (FIL), Cosmos Hub (ATOM), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Algorand (ALGO), Axie Infinity (AXS), and COTI (COTI).

At the time the 2023 lawsuit landed, the SEC had just filed similar charges against its competitor Binance.

Earlier this month, Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion to hit pause on their legal battle. The motion cites that the establishment of the new crypto task force under SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce may “impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case.”

At the time the Coinbase lawsuit was filed in 2023, Armstrong accused the SEC of "exceeding the authority given to them by congress by asking us to delist a number of assets that were not securities," arguing that the exchange had taken a "conservative approach" to ensure that it had not listed securities.

"We tried to 'come in and register' but it turned out it was a fake offer, as every crypto company discovered," he added.

Edited by Andrew Hayward