Tl;dr: Today Coinbase is sharing our response to the SEC’s Wells notice from last month. As we continue this process, we’re committed to being as transparent as possible with our customers, stakeholders, and investors.
Last month, we shared that we received a vague and broad Wells notice from the SEC – today we’re sharing our response to the SEC. We provided a written and video submission to the SEC, and we discussed those submissions with the SEC a few days ago.
Coinbase is the same company that we were when the SEC allowed us to become public two years ago, after detailed discussions with us about the very aspects of our business that are now the subject of the Wells notice. We didn't list securities then, and we still don’t. We’d like to in the future, but the SEC has still not complied with the law by providing companies like Coinbase with a way to register to be able to do that. We do not relish litigation against the SEC, but we will vigorously defend ourselves – and stand up for the rule of law for everyone.
In the meantime, the financial system still needs updating, so we’ll continue building. We will also continue to ask Congress for legislation and the SEC for rulemaking so that regulatory clarity isn’t left to the courts. If you care about clear crypto regulation, mint your Stand with Crypto shield NFT and join #Crypto435 to make your voice heard on crypto policy today.
Read our written submission here, and view the full video here.
About Paul Grewal
Paul Grewal is the Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase where he is responsible for Coinbase’s legal, compliance, global intelligence, risk management and government relations groups. Before joining Coinbase, Paul was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Facebook. Prior to Facebook, Paul served as United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California. Paul was previously a partner at Howrey LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation. Paul served as a law clerk to Federal Circuit Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa and United States District Judge Sam H. Bell. He received his JD from the University of Chicago Law School and his BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.