SEC Coinbase demand would have meant 'end of crypto in the US'
Coinbase chief Brian Armstrong says the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked the exchange to cease trading on every asset but bitcoin shortly before it launched a lawsuit against the company for operating an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency. Speaking to the Financial Times (FT), Armstrong claims the SEC told him that it believed every asset other than bitcoin is a SEC urity. According to Armstrong, “We said, well how are you coming to that conclusion, because that’s not our interpretation of the law. And they said, we’re not going to explain it to you, you need to delist every asset other than bitcoin.” Coinbase refused to comply with the SEC’s request, preferring instead to “ find out what the court says .” “We really didn’t have a choice at that point, delisting every asset other than bitcoin, which by the way is not what the law says, would have essentially meant the end of the crypto industry in the US,” Armstrong told FT. “It kind of made it...