The crypto company Coinbase sued the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the regulator has not yet publicly answered its July 2022 petition. Coinbase has reportedly filed a narrow action in federal court to lawfully direct the SEC to respond to its pending rulemaking petition.
In the blog post, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal wrote that the cryptocurrency exchange expects the SEC to reply “yes or no” to its petition.
Significantly, Grewal stated that as per the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the SEC is obliged to offer an answer to the rulemaking petition of Coinbase “within a reasonable time.”
In addition, Coinbase launched commemorative Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) named Stand with Crypto (SwC). Coinbase’s SwC NFTs can be minted for free, and signify “a symbol of unity for the crypto community seeking sensible crypto policy.”
Announcing the launch of its commemorative NFTs, Coinbase tweeted:
1/ The community is clearly fired up about sensible crypto policy. Here’s how to continue the support 👇
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) April 24, 2023
1️⃣: Mint a Stand With Crypto commemorative NFT
2️⃣: Add a shield emoji next to your Twitter display name 🛡️
🔗 https://t.co/yCGNEt8Zcn pic.twitter.com/xd3ZDKrNSB
Notably, Coinbase has directed the SEC to publicly make available its cryptocurrency industry guidance via its official rulemaking process.
From the SEC’s public statements and enforcement activity in the crypto industry, it seems like the SEC has already made up its mind to deny our petition. But they haven’t told the public yet. So the action Coinbase filed today simply asks the court to ask the SEC to share its decision.
Further, Grewal explained that while Coinbase takes regulatory litigations seriously, “regulatory clarity” for the cryptocurrency industry is yet to arrive from the SEC. He added that Coinbase and many cryptocurrency entities still continue to be served with “regulatory enforcement actions from the SEC”.
