Today is an important day for the cryptocurrency markets, as the crypto exchange Coinbase and the SEC will face off in a significant hearing. This hearing, which will contain crucial details about the course of the case, will include moments closely watched by altcoins and exchanges. So why is this hearing important for cryptocurrency investors?
Coinbase Hearing
The trial in New York started a few minutes ago, and the SEC is accusing the cryptocurrency exchange of violating federal securities laws. As you may recall, in what was expected to be the calmest week of 2023, the SEC filed lawsuits against two major crypto exchanges in quick succession. The Coinbase case was opened on June 6.
The agency also claimed in this complaint file that Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Filecoin (FIL), The Sandbox (SAND), Axie Infinity (AXS), Chiliz (CHZ), Flow (FLOW), Internet Computer (ICP), NEAR (NEAR), Voyager (VGX), Dash (DASH), and Nexo (NEXO) listed on Coinbase are securities.
The outcome of this case will greatly affect the price of many major altcoins.
Comments on the Coinbase Case
The result of today’s hearing will determine whether we will see something similar to the years-long Ripple case between the SEC and Coinbase. MetaLawMan shared four different scenarios regarding today’s hearing.
- Judge Failla rejects Coinbase’s request and moves to the discovery phase.
- Judge accepts Coinbase’s request as “prejudiced,” which would mean the entire case is dismissed.
- Judge accepts the “unprejudiced” motion, allowing the SEC to amend its complaint to address deficiencies specified by the judge.
- Judge accepts the claim regarding the 13 crypto tokens but rejects the claim related to the staking service. The case will then move to discovery, focusing solely on the staking service and whether it qualifies as an investment contract.
It is also important to know that Judge Failla, who presided over the case involving Tether and Bitfinex, is not unfamiliar with cryptocurrency. Additionally, this judge ruled that Uniswap’s technology could not be held responsible for customer losses and classified BTC and ETH as commodities in the same decision.
