Brian Armstrong says Coinbase has spent $50M to fight SEC lawsuit and won
Coinbase announced on Friday that the SEC had agreed to drop its lawsuit against the company meaning it could not be filed again.
This move, which still needs to be approved by the SEC Commissioners, is another sign that the Trump Administration plans to be more friendly towards crypto than was the SEC under former leader Gary Gensler.
In 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuitalleging that crypto assets are securities and that Coinbase is operating as a “unregistered national securities broker, clearing agency, and exchange.”
Coinbase responded, arguing that the SEC had not established clear enough rules regarding crypto to be able to sue for breaking them.
In 2023, many people advised against suing the SEC because it would cost tens of million of dollars. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made this statement on X Friday, announcing the lawsuit was dropped. Armstrong made accusations in the video about the SEC and its tactics. Armstrong claimed that he fought to save the crypto industry in America. He said that “not as many other companies have deep pockets as we do.” “And we ultimately had to spend 50 million defending this lawsuit” — proving that the naysayers were right about how expensive the battle would be. A Coinbase spokesperson clarified
that this amount was purely external legal feesand not employee time.
Despite Coinbase’s apparent victory in court, Armstrong stated that the U.S. still needs to “get legislation for crypto passed” in order to codify favorable regulation, or risk falling further behind other nations.
