Crypto giant Coinbase said Friday that the SEC has agreed to drop its 2023 lawsuit against the company, signaling that the Trump administration is delivering on a campaign promise to end tight oversight of the industry.
The lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street’s main watchdog, had alleged that Coinbase was selling unregistered securities through its cryptocurrency trading platform.
“After years of litigation, millions of your taxpayer dollars spent, and irreparable harm done to the country, we reached an agreement with SEC staff to dismiss their litigation against Coinbase,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X.
“Once approved by the Commission (which we’re told to expect next week), this would be a full dismissal, with $0 in fines paid and zero changes to our business,” he added.
The SEC has argued for years that certain digital currencies are financial securities, like stocks or bonds, and are therefore subject to its supervision as investment products.
Since 2020, a dozen industry participants have been targeted by the regulator, determined to clean up what the body’s then-chairman, Gary Gensler, described as the “wild west.”
Gensler launched lawsuits against major trading platforms including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, along with various smaller startups.
The crypto community rejected the SEC’s argument bitterly, and many players, including Coinbase’s CEO, financially backed President Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election.
Trump promised industry-friendly policies and launched his own digital currency just before his inauguration.
The main cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has risen sharply in value since the conservative billionaire’s election.
Trump also nominated veteran Washington attorney Paul Atkins, who has worked with the crypto industry, to chair the SEC, replacing Gensler.
Shares in Coinbase rose 2 percent after the news broke on Friday.
The SEC declined to comment on the development.
