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Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewel says the firm has not yet decided whether it will delist any assets from the crypto exchange in the wake of the lawsuit its facing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

“To address the question of whether or not we’re going to delist any of these assets, of course we’re always looking at new facts, new information, new allegations to understand whether or not our previous analysis was incorrect,” Grewel says in a forthcoming episode of The Scoop. “But as I sit here today, we have made no decision at all to delist assets, and we remain confident in our original analysis.”

Grewel’s comments come after Coinbase was sued by the SEC on June 6 over allegations that it violated U.S. securities rules by operating as a broker, exchange and clearing agency without registering as such.

The SEC had sued the rival crypto exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao on June 5. The firm’s American arm Binance.US opted to pull about 100 trading pairs and suspend its OTC Trading Portal on June 7 in response.

For now, it seems Coinbase will not follow suit.

“We believe we are operating not just a lawful, but an extraordinarily positive and productive business. And so until we are convinced that anything that we do is in violation of law, we’re going to continue to run our business as usual,” Grewel said. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

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Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao said he won’t have to appear in court in person, at least for now, after being summoned at an address in Malta as part of a new lawsuit filed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Told I won’t have to appear in person,” he wrote on Twitter, responding to an article about the summons. “This is just part of the SEC compliant process. Nothing new.”

On Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and Zhao over several alleged violations of the country’s securities laws. The crypto exchange said on Monday that it planned to “vigorously” defend itself. 

While the summons, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, may be procedural, it’s notable because of where it was delivered — an address for a seaside apartment block in Malta.

Zhao’s whereabouts and travels are the subjects of frequent speculation, and the island country has in the past been described as the “spiritual headquarters” of the exchange, even though it’s not authorized to operate there.

Binance’s main corporate entity is registered in the Cayman Islands.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Amid an extended crypto winter that has cooled NFT trading, platforms like Blur, Binance and Astaria have introduced new lending options to boost liquidity. While some traders support NFTfi, others say the trend is risky.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he last met with Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, during an “icy” virtual meeting after several other efforts to meet in person had failed.

“When he first came in as the Chair, I flew out to New York,” Armstrong said in an interview during a Bloomberg investment summit. “I reached out to him, our teams reached out. I tried to make an effort to connect with him in person because that’s what I try to do whenever a new regulator kind of comes in. Unfortunately, we were not able to connect at that time. I’m not sure why we couldn’t get on his calendar.”

After several additional attempts in the following year, Armstrong said a virtual meeting was scheduled, possibly because of Covid precautions. 

“It was frankly like a pretty icy reception, I would say,” Armstrong said. “We sort of came in hat in hand and said ‘hey, Chair Gensler, you’ve asked people to come in and register. Respectfully, we’re here to register. What would you like us to do? What process would you like us to go through?’ And his response was, ‘Talk to your lawyer. I’m not here to advise you.'”

The comments came a day after the SEC sued Coinbase for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws, the latest move in a long-running battle between the regulator and the crypto exchange. Gensler has previously argued that existing rules are sufficient to regulate the industry and that new legislation is not needed. 

Armstrong said that he didn’t believe that Gensler’s views are representative of the broader U.S. government:

“When I meet with members of Congress, I think the broad consensus, probably amongst 80% of people I talk to, on both sides of the isle, it’s a pretty reasonable view they have, which is ‘we don’t know exactly what this technology is going to become, but we’re seeing every other major financial hub in the world move toward clear legislation. We need to make sure that this innovation happens in the U.S. Let’s just protect consumers. Let’s apply some basic good ideas around AML, KYC and audited financial statements and make sure there’s no wash trading. Let’s create a clear market structure.'”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

With Coinbase (COIN) and Binance accused of running illegal exchanges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the latest industry testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives this week revealed that companies had desperately sought the agency’s help to properly register but were turned away.

SEC chair Gary Gensler wants you to think Coinbase and Binance are the same as FTX and Celsius. They’re not.