SEC Says Coinbase’s Lawsuit Against Regulator is Baseless

The SEC has responded to Coinbase’s lawsuit, which sought to compel the agency to issue new regulations for digital assets, by arguing that the commission is not obligated to issue such regulations and Coinbase does not have the standing to sue the agency.

The two parties have been in dispute since last summer regarding which digital assets should be considered security investments, subject to existing registration and transparency requirements.

In its response to the Third Circuit of the US Court of Appeals, the SEC asserted that “neither the securities laws nor the Administrative Procedure Act impose on the Securities and Exchange Commission an obligation to issue the broad new regulations regarding ‘digital assets’ Coinbase has requested.”

Additionally, the agency argued that considering the various paths Coinbase’s petition asked them to take is a “necessarily complicated endeavor.”