How much of this is actually opaque regulation, and how much is "we don't like the rules the SEC has, so we are going to do our best to not understand them"?
I'm not saying Coinbase has to agree with that decision, but it's a little silly they're posturing to the public like they're unaware. It's not exactly a secret.
If they disagree then going to court is probably their only move.
> “Everything other than bitcoin,” Gensler told me, “you can find a website, you can find a group of entrepreneurs, they might set up their legal entities in a tax haven offshore, they might have a foundation, they might lawyer it up to try to arbitrage and make it hard jurisdictionally or so forth.” In other words, there are people behind these cryptocurrencies using a variety of complex and legally opaque mechanisms, but at the most basic level, they are trying to promote their tokens and entice investors. (Bitcoin, because of its unique history and creation story, is fundamentally different from other crypto projects in this respect.)
All of it from what I understand. I think the gist is Coinbase are saying "our product is special and not something you regulate." The SEC is saying it is not a special product, we'll regulate it as we already do. Saying you're using Monopoly money instead of real dollars (but then actually using real dollars to determine value) doesn't magically create new regulatory worlds.
I get the strong sense of the latter. It’s not actually the SEC that decides what’s illegal or not - these charges they speak of are for the judicial branch to decide on. I don’t follow crypto much, but it sounds to me like there isn’t a legal ruling precedent yet for crypto securities (hence Coinbase’s broadcast lack of certainty), so how could the SEC even give a guidance as to what’s illegal or not when they don’t know yet? But it’s definitely their duty to find out and establish that legal precedent. Given Coinbase is thinking about moving out of the country, I suspect they actually do think it’s not going to go in their favor, and might be trying to publicly blame it on the SEC versus admit they could have an illegal business model. Even in that case, I don’t understand the complaint because they got a good run - if the SEC had been faster and clearer up front, that party may never have happened.
SEC Commissioner Hester M Peirce has written multiple times about how the SEC isn't doing their job to provide clear regulation to the industry. From what she's written, it really is that the SEC won't engage and provide regulatory clarity while publicly saying that these companies just need to talk to them to get that clarity.
https://cryptoslate.com/sec-chair-gensler-confirms-everythin...
I'm not saying Coinbase has to agree with that decision, but it's a little silly they're posturing to the public like they're unaware. It's not exactly a secret.
If they disagree then going to court is probably their only move.