[thesausageking]

If that's true, then why did the SEC approve Coinbase's IPO and not doing anything about it until years later? Even in spite of Coinbase meeting with the SEC hundreds of times and testifying before congress. This is a complete change in their stance by the SEC.

[thisgoesnowhere]

Because the SECs role in IPOs have nothing to do with wether or not you are breaking securities law.

They are just testing that you are not lying in your public financial declarations.

[thesausageking]

You're saying that the SEC knowingly allowed Coinbase to become a public company, have insiders dump billions in stock on the public, and then continue to operate a completely illegal business for another 2 years without taking any action at all? Not even issuing any guidance which Coinbase requested from them dozens of times?

If so, that would be a huge scandal and the SEC should be investigated immediately.

A much simpler explanation is that crypto was largely ignored by regulators, including the very shady parts like FTX, for most of Coinbase's life. When FTX imploded, lawmakers turned on crypto and put pressure on the SEC to attack the industry. This is why there's been a whole series of actions by them in the last 6 months.

[donedeals]

Typically IPO approvals include a carve out that says this approval cannot bed used a defense in a SEC action. CB will still use it as an argument.