SEC asks for more time to respond to Coinbase call for crypto clarity

The securities regulator said it would make a recommendation within 120 days on Coinbase’s rulemaking request, but says the action has “no merit.”

The United States securities regulator has asked for four more months to provide a response to Coinbase’s request for crypto regulatory clarity.

In a June 13 letter submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it needs an additional 120 days to reply to Coinbase’s request that it adopt new rules and provide further clarity on the laws governing crypto.

The letter was in response to the court’s June 6 order to the SEC which asked the regulator to address if it’s denying the rulemaking or if it needs more time to respond.

The SEC said it “has not decided what action to take on that petition in whole or in part” and claimed Coinbase’s request for a writ of mandamus has “no merit.”

The regulator claimed that the mandamus petition “should be denied” but anticipated it would be able to make a recommendation on Coinbase’s petition for rulemaking “within the next 120 days.”

In response to the letter, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal informed his 40,000 Twitter followers that the SEC had repeated the “fallacy” that it was yet to decide on any new regulation.

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He added the letter ignored clear statements from SEC chair Gary Gensler that the SEC has “no intent to issue new rules.”

“[The SEC] instead conflate the evidence of a decision those statements provide with an argument that the statements are themselves a decision,” Grewal said.

4) they ignore the clear statements of the Chair that confirm they have no intent to issue new rules, and instead conflate the evidence of a decision those statements provide with an argument that the statements are themselves a decision. 3/5

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) June 13, 2023

“They refuse to commit to any deadline despite the Court’s explicit order,” Grewal added.

The court’s order to the SEC came the same day the regulator sued Coinbase for offering unregistered securities and operating an unregistered securities exchange.

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