The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday sued cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase over allegations that the company operated as an exchange, broker, and clearing agency without having registered with the regulator. In a news release, the SEC alleged that the biggest crypto exchange in the U.S. “has made billions of dollars unlawfully facilitating the buying and selling of crypto asset securities.” The regulator also claimed that Coinbase ran a “staking-as-a-service program”—where customers earn profits by using their assets to support the operation of certain blockchains—without legally registering the program’s offers and sales. “Coinbase’s alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement. The action against Coinbase comes the day after the SEC also brought charges against Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, over allegations of securities violations.
