Now carefully considering the arguments of both parties and the numerous amicus submissions in this case,1 the Court concludes that the well-defended allegations in the Complaint reasonably support the SEC’s assertion that Coinbase acted as an unregistered securities intermediary To operate, defendant’s motions must be dismissed for the most part. As this article explains, the term “cryptocurrency” may be recent, but the transactions in question fall squarely within the framework that courts have used to identify securities for nearly eighty years. In addition, the court found that the SEC fully alleged that Coinbase engaged in the unregistered offering and sale of securities through its Stake program.
However, the court agreed with the defendants that they were entitled to dismiss the allegation that Coinbase acted as an unregistered broker by providing an e-wallet application to customers.