Coinbase Stock Tanks 16% Following SEC Lawsuit 

A rough start to Tuesday for Coinbase — its stock tanked during premarket hours in response to a sweeping SEC lawsuit

article-image

Shutterstock/viewimage modified by Blockworks

share

Coinbase shares dipped about 16% during pre-market trading Tuesday morning in New York following news that the SEC has charged the exchange for allegedly violating securities laws. 

The crash comes one day after Coinbase shares posted a 9% drop on Monday during the regular trading session, following news that rival exchange Binance had been sued by the securities regulator

COIN, which has dropped more than 80% since its direct listing in April 2021, has managed a substantial rebound since the start of the year, rallying around 75% year to date. Tuesday’s news sent shares below the $60 level analysts have been watching. 

Read more: SEC Sues Coinbase: Here’s What They Allege Coinbase Did Wrong

As of Monday, analysts surveyed by MarketBeat gave Coinbase a hold rating. 

Coinbase stock is now underperforming bitcoin and ether year to date

Bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) moved slightly into the red on the news, dipping about 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively. The drop was substantially less than Monday’s decline, where both tokens lost around 2% after the SEC announced its Binance suit. 

The SEC names Coinbase and its holding company CGI as defendants in the suit. The regulator alleges defendants broke securities laws by operating the exchange and brokerage without registration. 

“Since at least 2019, through the Coinbase Platform, Coinbase has operated as: an unregistered broker, including by soliciting potential investors, handling customer funds and assets, and charging transaction-based fees; an unregistered exchange,” court documents released Tuesday read. 

The SEC also claims that at least 13 tokens listed on Coinbase are securities. In its Binance complaint, the agency similarly listed 10 tokens as “crypto asset securities.” Both lawsuits list Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA as securities.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

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 (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful