SEC staff agrees in principle to dismiss Coinbase enforcement case, pending Commissioner approval

Tech

SEC staff agrees in principle to dismiss Coinbase enforcement case, pending Commissioner approval

• The SEC is likely to dismiss its lawsuit against Coinbase, which could be a major victory for the crypto industry.
• Dismissing the lawsuit may shift focus from legal battles to establishing crypto standards in Congress.

The SEC staff has agreed in principle to dismiss its enforcement case against Coinbase, pending Commissioner approval, Coinbase shared in a Friday blog post. The case will reach a final resolution once the SEC Commissioners give their approval to the staffs recommendation to dismiss the case.

“Today we can announce upon full Commission approval the SEC is dropping our case. There will be no settlement or compromise– a wrong will simply be made right,” said the companys chief legal officer Paul Grewal in a recent statement.

The SEC staff has negotiated a deal to completely abandon its accusations that Coinbase operated an unregistered exchange and listed unregistered securities. The dismissal would be “with prejudice,” meaning the regulators securities violations claims would be permanently terminated.

The SEC commissioners – Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda, Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, and Democratic Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw – typically hold enforcement meetings on Thursdays. The final decision on the staff recommendation could take up to a week.

The agency has recently shifted its enforcement focus, moving its crypto unit to broader “emerging technologies” oversight. It also dropped its appeal regarding crypto dealer registration rules and requested a pause in its enforcement dispute with Binance.

“Now the US can finally get back to doing what it does best: building innovative tech that improves the world,” Grewal stated.

The potential dismissal would shift attention from courts to Congress for establishing crypto industry standards. Coinbase has invested heavily in political advocacy, with its Fairshake PAC supporting one in ten current Congress members during their campaigns.