Coinbase filed a brief responding to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) accusation in June that it failed to register as a securities exchange, broker-dealer and clearing agency. Coinbase said the SEC’s charges exceeded its jurisdiction.
The Coinbase filing stated, “Because the SEC’s complaint does not and cannot argue that the simple asset transactions it identified involve ongoing contractual obligations related to the enterprise, Coinbase is entitled to make judgment on the complaint. In addition, the SEC believes that the buyer wants Any purchase to obtain added value constitutes an investment contract and therefore a security, which is an attempt to fundamentally extend its own powers, as the material issues doctrine makes clear, if an institution wants to make a decision on an issue of material significance. Decisions must be supported by clear authorization from Congress, and it is Congress’s responsibility to expand the federal securities laws.”