Coinbase declares SEC proceedings closed – but not the authority
The head of Coinbase says that the proceedings by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against his company are over. But this is not confirmed yet.
(Image: Burdun Iliya/Shutterstock.com)
For a long time, it hovered like the sword of Damocles over the American cryptocurrency market, but now it has allegedly been dropped: The proceedings opened by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023 against the crypto service provider Coinbase for allegedly trading in unregistered financial products. Coinbase is a platform for trading cryptocurrencies.
As reported by the US television station CNBC, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the alleged settlement on Friday in a TV program of the media company. Armstrong also published a comprehensive X-Post detailing the development. According to the post, the company had reached an agreement with the SEC to discontinue the proceedings in question. Approval from the authority is expected in the coming week. According to Armstrong, the SEC's prosecution of Coinbase would then be over for good – without any fines or changes to the business. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on Armstrong's statements to CNBC on Friday.
SEC document surfaced
Since Friday, however, a document has been available on the SEC's document portal that addresses the Coinbase statement. According to the document, the information on the Coinbase website and the X-accounts of Armstrong and Coinbase legal counsel Paul Grewal should not be regarded as official statements in the SEC proceedings. They would be based on Coinbase management's estimates and assumptions and on the information available to management at the time of their publication.
The agency also cautions that there are "certain risks and uncertainties" associated with the Coinbase transaction that could cause actual business results, events and developments to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are therefore not advisable. The statements made by the crypto exchange are not expressly confirmed or denied in the document.
Important process for the crypto market
The Coinbase proceedings were closely followed by the entire industry. This is because it also dealt with the fundamental questions: What are cryptocurrencies actually defined as in the USA? And which law applies as a result? If the Coinbase CEO's statements are true, it could be a step towards a more permeable system that does not attempt to squeeze crypto transactions into a complicated, special scheme.
This would at least fit in with the attitude of the new US President Donald Trump. The Republican has shown himself to be a crypto supporter, taking part in the Bitcoin Conference in 2024, for example, the largest congress of investors in the world's most valuable digital currency. He also launched his cryptocurrency, the "Trumpcoin", not as a serious currency, but as a memecoin.
Videos by heise
Trump presidency turns the crypto world upside down
During the Trump election campaign , Bitcoin broke through the 100,000 US dollar mark for the first time. Investors promised themselves that the election winner Donald Trump would implement crypto-friendly regulation. The party mood in the crypto scene was fueled by Trump's announcement that he would make crypto advocate Paul Atkins his preferred candidate to head the powerful US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The previous SEC chairman Gary Gensler, on the other hand, was known for his tough stance on digital currencies. Gensler announced on November 21 that he would step down from his post when Donald Trump enters the White House in January.
However, Gensler's successor was not Atkins, but long-time SEC employee Mark T. Uyeda. No less pleasing for crypto investors, as the Republican is also considered a supporter of digital currencies and has already spoken about a "crypto task force" that he wants to set up to create clearer and more appropriate regulations.
(nen)
