The US Chamber of Commerce has slammed the SEC's "casual, enforcement-based approach" to regulating the cryptocurrency industry stateside.
In an amicus brief filed with the US Court of Appeals on May 9, the US Chamber of Commerce fully supported Coinbase, accusing the SEC of deliberately creating an unstable and uncertain environment for crypto companies operating in the country.
"The SEC deliberately muddied the waters by asserting sweeping authority over digital assets while deploying a haphazard, enforcement-based approach," it wrote. "This regulatory confusion is by design, not by accident." The name "amicus brief" is derived from The Latin "friend of the court" and refers to advice or information provided by a third party without explicitly referring to a specific court case.
Additionally, the chamber urged the SEC to immediately respond to Coinbase's April 25 complaint, which seeks to compel the regulator to respond to its “rulemaking petition” and provide clearer regulatory guidelines for crypto firms operating in the country. The complaint com es after the cryptocurrency exchange received Wells' notice from the SEC in March that the exchange “possibly violated” US securities laws. It's worth noting that Coinbase's complaint isn't asking the court to force the SEC to adopt new rules for cryptocurrencies. Instead, the exchange simply asked the committee to respond to its July petition, which it is legally entitled to receive within a “reasonable time.”
Directly addressing this point, the Chamber claims that the SEC's “refusal” to respond to Coinbase or “otherwise participate in any rulemaking” is not only harmful; it is, in fact, illegal. "The SEC's actions are not only harmful policy; they and for that reason, the consequences of the SEC's continued delay are severe." The chamber also called out financial regulators for failing to definitively answer the question of which, if any, of the approximately 20,000 digital assets that current ly exist should be considered “securities” under federal law. It emphasized that the answer to this question will have “tremendous implications” for “every participant” in the emerging $1 trillion digital asset economy.
“Notably, the SEC has refused to address this threshold despite claiming to be the primary regulator of digital assets.”
The chamber of commerce isn't the only one offering legal support to Coinbase. Paradigm, a cryptocurrency investment firm led by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, has petitioned to file another amicus brief in favor of cryptocurrency exchanges, similarly claiming that the S. EC's actions “undercut a fledgling industry.”
