Americans: Watch Your Head, Watch Your Wallet, and Watch Your Back
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Coinbase announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to drop its lawsuit against the crypto company.
Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:
“The SEC abandonment of its case against Coinbase is proof positive that the crypto industry’s flood of campaign spending has paid off. The now-abandoned lawsuit against Coinbase involved the most basic assertion of SEC authority: Coinbase cryptocurrency offerings are actually securities and must be registered and regulated as such. Retreat from this basic assertion is a massive gift to the industry, which can only be understood in light of its massive political spending in the last election.
“The new SEC stance will enable crypto to penetrate further into the economy, not only putting consumers at risk when the crypto bubble inevitably collapses, but posing an increasing systemic threat to the overall financial system.
“When the crypto crash happens — and it will — this decision will go down as one that made it far worse than it would have been.
“The SEC decision is also an important marker in the Trump administration’s rush to abandon prosecution and enforcement actions against corporate criminals and wrongdoers. This is not just an abandonment of those already wronged by corporate wrongdoers, it is an invitation to a corporate crime spree and epidemic of corporate wrongdoing.
“Americans, watch your head, watch your wallet, and watch your back.”