Coinbase Stands Behind Ripple Labs in SEC Court Case

Coinbase has asked a federal court for permission to write an amicus brief (friend-of-the-court) in the ongoing dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple Labs.

The Nasdaq listed cryptocurrency exchange has joined the Blockchain Association, an industry lobbying group, SpendTheBits, a crypto payments app that uses XRP, and lawyer John Deaton in an attempt to strengthen Ripple’s case against the SEC, which sued Ripple at the end of 2020 on allegations that it sold XRP as an unregistered security.

The discussion focused on whether the SEC offered “fair notice” before commencing its enforcement action, a jab at a common industry criticism that the agency has not provided clear direction to firms in the process.

Part of the filing read:

“Given the absence of SEC rulemaking for the cryptocurrency industry, the question of whether the SEC has given fair notice before bringing an enforcement action against sales of one of the thousands of unique digital assets will often be highly fact-intensive, which makes it particularly ill-suited for adjudication on summary judgment.”

Coinbase elaborated that a level playing field is required and that not all business have been treated in the same way by the regulator :

“Ripple and others have been the subject of extensive enforcement scrutiny while others – with nearly identical products or services – have apparently been subject to none.”

Last week, Coinbase also came out supporting Grayscale as noted in an October 18 brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, where Grayscale first reiterated how the SEC’s decision undermines investor’s freedom after it denied its Bitcoin spot ETF.