Shares of Coinbase (NYSE: COIN) fell more than 21% Tuesday on a report that it’s facing a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into whether the platform is offering unregistered securities.
A Bloomberg report said that Coinbase, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, is facing an SEC investigation into whether it improperly allowed Americans to trade digital tokens that should have been registered as securities.
“I’m happy to say it again and again: we are confident that our rigorous diligence process — a process the SEC has already reviewed — keeps securities off our platform,” said Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal on Twitter. “We look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter.”
Other crypto firms, such as San Francisco-based Ripple, are also fighting lawsuits from SEC.
Last week, Coinbase submitted a petition to the SEC, asking the regulator to clarify which digital assets it considers to be securities. The company stressed the importance of establishing guardrails, given the market meltdown that has wiped out trillions of dollars and bankrupted several companies.
Coinbase’s shares are down 77% this year.
Source - Bloomberg
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