SEC Drops Coinbase Lawsuit: A New Era for Crypto in the US

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to dismiss Coinbase's lawsuit, marking a significant shift in the agency's regulatory approach towards the crypto industry. According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the dismissal is expected to be fully approved by the Commission within the next week, with no fines or changes to the exchange's business.

Armstrong criticized the previous SEC regime under Gary Gensler, stating that caving to his "bullying" tactics would have limited the U.S. crypto industry. The SEC had previously claimed that certain tokens offered through Coinbase, such as Solana, Cardano, and Polygon, were unregistered securities. Coinbase maintained that these tokens did not fall within the SEC's definition of a "security."

The dismissal of Coinbase's lawsuit comes as the SEC adopts a more pro-crypto stance under the Trump administration. President Trump has pledged to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world and has appointed Commissioner Hester Pierce to lead a Crypto Task Force aimed at driving regulatory clarity in the space. This move could signal a larger trend of dropped enforcement actions against other crypto exchanges, such as Ripple, Binance, and Kraken.

Hasseb Qureshi, Partner at crypto VC Dragonfly, hailed the Coinbase update as "historic," thanking Acting Chair Mark Uyeda and Pierce for bringing "sanity" back to the industry. Paul Grewal, Coinbase's legal chief, echoed this sentiment, stating that the U.S. can now focus on building innovative technology that improves the world.