‘Coinbase Does Not List Securities,’ Coinbase Chief Legal Officer

Amid suspicion from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of allowing American customers to trade unregistered securities, Coinbase’s chief legal officer reiterates that their cryptocurrency exchange “keeps securities off” the trading platform.

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, stressed that the firm trusts its platform’s “rigorous diligence process” that keeps securities away. He also shared a blog published on July 22 to substantiate his point.

This refresher follows Bloomberg’s report on the SEC’s investigation of Coinbase allegedly letting Americans trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities. Citing three people familiar with the issue, Bloomberg reported that the commission is currently looking at some of the listed tokens on the exchange.

A few days ago, the SEC charged a former Coinbase employee with insider trading and violation of antifraud provisions of securities laws by the SEC. The commission also claimed that seven cryptocurrencies listed on the platform were securities.

Grewal wrote in the re-shared blog that it has been cooperative with the SEC investigation on the seven assets. “But instead of having a dialogue with us about the [assets] on our platform, the SEC jumped directly to litigation,” the blog reads.

The chief legal officer then presented a problem he thinks the U.S. needs to resolve — the lack of a “clear and workable regulatory framework for digital asset securities.”

As seen on Coinbase’s asset directory, more than 200 cryptocurrencies are listed on the platform at the time of writing.