New York CNN —The Securities and Exchange Commission asked Coinbase to halt trading on all cryptocurrencies except for bitcoin before it sued the company in June, Coinbase’s chief executive told the Financial Times.
The SEC’s request left Coinbase, America’s largest crypto exchange, with no choice but to take the matter to court, CEO Brian Armstrong said, because stopping those trades would have “essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US,” he said.
“We really didn’t have a choice at that point,” Armstrong told the FT in an interview published Monday.
Recounting discussions with the regulator before the lawsuit, Armstrong told the FT that Coinbase had requested clarity on how the SEC determined that every digital asset other than bitcoin is a security.
The SEC disagrees, and has often said that most crypto offerings are securities that should face the same government regulations on Wall Street as stocks and bonds.
Persons:
Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, ”, “, ” Armstrong, Armstrong, we’re
Organizations:
New, New York CNN, Securities, Exchange Commission, Financial Times, SEC, Coinbase
Locations:
New York