FacebookTwitterLinkedInTelegramCopy LinkEmail
Crime and Investigations

Coinbase and SEC Lock Horns Over Alleged Securities Law Breaches

Coinbase and SEC Lock Horns Over Alleged Securities Law Breaches

Coinbase, a major cryptocurrency exchange, has been informed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it is under investigation for potential violations of securities laws related to its exchange, staking service, Coinbase Earn, and Coinbase Wallet.

The company confirmed the receipt of a Wells Notice and stated that it would continue to operate its services as usual. The notice does not imply any conclusion or foregone action.

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer expressed disappointment but said that the company is confident in the legality of its assets and services.

The SEC has been increasingly scrutinizing staking and other products offered by crypto firms, with rival exchange Kraken recently settling a case and paying a $30 million fine.

Coinbase has stated that its staking activity does not violate U.S. securities law.


READ MORE: Biden Administration’s Economic Report on Bitcoin and Crypto: Highlights and Criticisms


Additionally, former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi has pled guilty to wire fraud-related charges, leading to ongoing civil litigation related to the registration of tokens.

Coinbase’s stock dropped over 11% in after-hours trading after the news broke.

Author
Alexander Stefanov - Editor-in-Chief at Coinspress
Alexander Stefanov

Reporter at CoinsPress

Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.

Learn more about crypto and blockchain technology.

Glossary