Texas Lawyer, Oct. 29, 2024
“The SEC sues digital-asset developers and exchanges seeking punitive, retroactive penalties for their purported failure to ‘come in and register,'” Coinbase alleged in its brief. “But the agency simultaneously refuses to explain on the record, through a rulemaking, how the compliance it demands is even possible.”
“This creates a chilling effect on innovation and market development, effectively forcing companies to either accept SEC settlements or abandon U.S. markets entirely,” said Nicolle Lafosse, of counsel at the international law firm of Diaz Reus, who is not involved in the case but whose specialty includes crypto litigation.
As a result, the advocacy organizations Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association argued on social media and in their amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs that the SEC’s regulatory stance puts “the U.S. at risk of missing the digital asset boom.”
“While the US lags behind, the UK, Switzerland, France, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Caymans, and BVI are all rolling out clear crypto regulations and attracting business,” they said in their brief. “We are standing up and urging the court to reject the SEC’s flawed arguments—because America’s digital asset future is on the line.”
