Coinbase, SEC present case to appeals court in petition for rulemaking case 

Coinbase’s team told a three-judge panel on Monday that the SEC has failed to provide a path for actors in the digital asset space

article-image

Coinbase and Adobe stock modified by Blockworks

share

In its continued effort to force the Securities and Exchange Commission to make new rules for the cryptocurrency industry, Coinbase faced off with the regulator in federal court Monday. 

Coinbase sued the SEC after its petition for rulemaking was denied. The case has now progressed to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 

Coinbase’s team told a three-judge panel on Monday that the SEC has failed to provide a path for actors in the digital asset space, despite frequently telling companies to just “come in and register.” 

Read more: Coinbase moves forward with appeal of SEC’s rulemaking petition denial 

“[The SEC] refuses to provide a reasonable explanation for its barebones denial, yet it has wielded its purported authority to engage in an arbitrary enforcement campaign against our industry,” Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, wrote on X following Monday’s hearing. 

The SEC argued that just because Coinbase doesn’t like the rules does not make them above the law, nor is the SEC obligated to create a new framework. 

“Rather than initiate new rulemaking, [SEC] Chair Gensler has repeatedly stated through speeches and testimony that the vast majority of digital tokens are securities, and has asked issuers and exchanges that offer, sell, and trade them to come in and register,” Grewal wrote in the 2022 petition

Read more: Disappointed but not surprised: Industry reacts to SEC’s Coinbase denial 

The petition was denied because existing laws and regulations already apply to digital assets, Chair Gary Gensler said in December 2023. 

Monday’s oral arguments come as Coinbase and the SEC continue a separate legal battle. The regulator in June 2023 sued Coinbase for allegedly operating as an unregistered broker, exchange and clearing agency. 

The SEC claimed 13 cryptocurrencies available on Coinbase are securities: SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH and NEXO. The case is now in discovery.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

We believe DoubleZero, given its symbiotic relationship with validators & searchers, promise to boost overall network efficiency and throughput, lack of competition, and ability to serve many blockchain ecosystems, will command meaningful pricing power and could command a meaningful take of priority revenues across blockchains.

article-image

A new policy framework says decentralization should be judged by control — not vibes

article-image

You know about the Bitcoin Standard — what about the Bitcoin Scholarship?

article-image

Toku’s suit accuses an ex-employee of stealing confidential business information and sharing it with competitor Liquifi

article-image

Partial recovery is already in motion, according to the Loopscale team

article-image

Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple are slated to report Q1 earnings this week, and we’re watching one especially closely

article-image

Tariff concerns on corporate earnings and weakening of the US dollar contributed to the surge, CoinShares exec says