SEC asked Coinbase to trade only in bitcoin in June

According to Reuters, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a request to Coinbase (COIN.O) back in June, asking them to halt trading in all cryptocurrencies except for bitcoin. This demand came just before the SEC filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency platform. Coinbase, instead of complying with the request and delisting all assets other than bitcoin, decided to take the matter to court, fearing that such a move would have severely impacted the entire crypto industry in the United States.

The SEC’s accusations against Coinbase include operating illegally by failing to register as an exchange and trading at least 13 crypto security assets that should have been registered, such as Solana, Cardano, and Polygon.

On the other hand, the SEC claims that they never formally requested the delisting of crypto assets. The regulatory authority had also filed a civil case against Binance in June, as part of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s efforts to establish jurisdiction over the crypto industry.

Crypto companies argue that the SEC’s rules lack clarity and that the agency is overstepping its boundaries by attempting to regulate them.