Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has scheduled a meeting with the US House of Representatives’ Democrats members on Wednesday to discuss the future of cryptocurrency legislation.
This meeting comes as Coinbase faces legal challenges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has accused the exchange of operating without proper registration as a securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. Coinbase is also charged with the unregistered offer and sale of securities in relation to its staking-as-a-service program.
In light of these regulatory issues, Armstrong aims to advocate for greater regulatory clarity in the cryptocurrency industry. The meeting will cover various topics, including taxation, national security, privacy, and climate concerns, according to a spokesperson from the New Democrat Coalition.
Coinbase has shown relentless efforts in its push for clearer regulations. It recently filed for a rulemaking petition with the United States Court Of Appeals For The Third Circuit requesting the SEC to provide clarity on the circumstances that determine an asset’s classification as a security.
In its petition, Coinbase seeks new rules and regulatory clarity for digital assets and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. The petition asserted that the SEC had not responded to its requests for guidance and instead has intensified its enforcement efforts. Coinbase argued that the SEC’s failure to respond is an “unreasonable delay” under the Administrative Procedure Act. The petition therefore intended to force the SEC to publicly disclose its decision on Coinbase’s rulemaking petition, as the company believes that the SEC has already made a decision but has not made it public.
SEC losing the war?
The odds seem to be shifting in favour of Coinbase and other crypto companies facing similar charges after Ripple scored an important win in its case.
Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling that the sale of XRP on public exchanges does not qualify as an investment contract and does not violate securities laws could effectively dismiss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) charge against Coinbase for ‘selling unregistered securities’. The ruling supports Coinbase’s position and undermines the SEC’s argument as most of the assets it terms ‘securities’ in its case against Coinbase have a similar model as Ripple’s XRP.
In light of the favourable ruling which was widely celebrated across the industry, Coinbase quickly announced that it will relist XRP after thoroughly reviewing Judge Torres’ verdict. Kraken and Gemini also announced that they were exploring the possibility.
