Top US crypto exchange Coinbase is attempting to force the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to respond to a rulemaking petition created by the firm last year.
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal tells his 50,100 followers on the social media platform X that the crypto company is asking the SEC to clarify exactly how securities laws apply to digital assets.
According to Grewal, the SEC’s previous update on the matter wasn’t good enough and Coinbase wants a proper response within 30 days.
“We’ve filed our response with the Third Circuit… The SEC’s unilluminating ‘update’ is mere bureaucratic pantomime and confirms that nothing short of mandamus will prompt the agency to take its obligations seriously. We respectfully request an order to the SEC to act on Coinbase’s rulemaking petition within 30 days.”
In the filing, Coinbase says that the SEC launched an enforcement action against it without ever explaining how the laws they enforce apply to crypto assets.
“For more than a year, the SEC has refused to act on Coinbase’s petition to begin rulemaking to clarify how in its view the securities laws apply to digital assets.
After it brought an enforcement action against Coinbase under those same laws, this Court swiftly directed the SEC to explain whether it had denied Coinbase’s petition. The Commission sought, and was granted, more time…
The digital asset industry is stuck in an unprecedented catch-22. The SEC demands that digital asset firms register or be sued, and has sued them for not registering, but it still refuses to write rules articulating when the SEC believes registration is required in the first place and how to achieve such a registration.”
In June, the SEC was granted a delay when asked to clarify the matter. At the time, Grewal said that the regulatory agency’s lawyers were making fallacious arguments that the SEC hasn’t made new decisions on crypto regulations.
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