Brian Armstrong is tired of waiting. In July of last year, Coinbase asked the US regulator, the SEC, to clarify what legislation should apply to cryptocurrencies. Eight months later and after not getting a convincing response, the major crypto company decided to take the SEC itself to court so that the judges were the ones to force the matter to be definitively clarified.

open war. The cards are already on the table. In March of this year, Coinbase received a notification from the SEC that they could soon face legal action. A notice from Coinbase stating that they are ready to defend their actions in court as well.

However, since Coinbase took the lead, the SEC did not need to step in. While there won’t be a “Wells Notice” lawsuit for sure, they explain that they will present some arguments from Coinbase in their defense. As the saying goes: “The best defense is a good attack”.

“We’re convinced the SEC is breaking the law.” It’s common for regulators to be criticized for their pressure on individual companies, but it’s far less common to directly accuse them of breaking the law.

“We don’t go to court easily,” explains Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s legal director. As we firmly believe the SEC has violated the law, we feel we have no choice but to take them to court.”

As The Block explains, the case is of the ‘mandamus letter’ type, which allows judges to force federal officials to take action. All in search of a new regulatory framework.

Enough with current legislation for the SEC. SEC chairman Gary Gensler has explained many times that from his point of view, it is enough for different crypto exchanges to know what they can and cannot do with the current legislation.

Via Grewal, “It is clear that there is a lack of clarity on cryptocurrencies among our regulators, as even the head of the SEC refuses to say which cryptoactives are securities.” .

This perspective is not unique to Coinbase, as more than 1,700 organizations, companies, and investors join the call for clearer regulation.

contrast with Europe. If the crypto industry has any future, it will likely be far from the United States. Unless the situation changes, European law is very different from American law. The European Union has recently approved the European regulation MiCA, which contains many doubts that have arisen in the crypto industry.

This difference prompted Coinbase to consider going abroad. A possibility that has not yet materialized.

Image | Hubert Lamela Consensus 2019

on Xataka | If the crypto industry has any future, it’s not in the United States. And Coinbase knows this all too well