Before suing Coinbase, SEC asked it to trade only in bitcoin -FT

July 31 (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) had asked Coinbase to stop trading in
all cryptocurrencies except bitcoin before suing the
cryptocurrency platform in June, the Financial Times reported on
Monday, citing CEO Brian Armstrong.

“We really didn’t have a choice at that point. Delisting
every asset other than bitcoin, which by the way is not what the
law says, would have essentially meant the end of the crypto
industry in the US,” Armstrong told the FT.

“It kind of made it an easy choice … let’s go to court
and find out what the court says,” he added.

The SEC had accused Coinbase of operating illegally because
it failed to register as an exchange. It also alleged that
Coinbase traded at least 13 crypto assets that are securities
that should have been registered, including tokens such as
Solana, Cardano and Polygon.

The SEC told FT that its enforcement division did not make
formal requests for “companies to delist crypto assets”.

“In the course of an investigation, the staff may share its
own view as to what conduct may raise questions for the
commission under the securities laws,” FT said, citing the SEC.

The regulator sued Binance in June, with both civil cases
part of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s push to assert jurisdiction
over the crypto industry.

Gensler has labeled the crypto industry a “Wild West” that
has undermined investor trust in the U.S. capital markets.
Crypto companies say the SEC rules are unclear, and that the
agency is overreaching by trying to regulate them.

The SEC and Coinbase did not immediately respond to a
Reuters request for comment on the report.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema
and Savio D’Souza)