The SEC is filing a lawsuit against the company
The Securities Competition in the Cryptocurrency Industry: What is Happening if We Don’t Know What’s On Coinbase?
The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement only approach in the absence of clear rules for the digital asset industry is hurting America’s economic competitiveness and is hurting companies that have a demonstrated commitment to compliance. Legislation allows fair rules to be developed in a transparent manner and applied equally, not litigation. We will operate our business as usual while we wait.
There are 13 tokens named by the SEC that it says Coinbase “has made available for trading crypto assets that are being offered and sold as investment contracts, and thus as securities.” Among them are tokens for Solana (SOL), the Axie Infinity game (AXS), the Polygon blockchain (MATIC), virtual world The Sandbox (SAND), and the “Chiliz” (CHZ) token operated by fan token company Socios.
Gensler questioned the value of the tokens in an interview, saying they were operating in a “wild west” with casino operators.
The tension over whether or not existing securities laws apply to the new type of digital money will be the center of the case to come. “It’s very much game on,” Acheson says.
The SEC is looking for all sorts of things in digital currency. The upshot of this could be that US investors lose access to popular crypto assets.