Coinbase faces SEC investigation over cryptocurrency listings

Watching closely: Gensler during a House of Representatives hearing in Washington. The SEC chairman is keen on bringing trading platforms in line and for them to do more to protect retail investors. — Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Coinbase Global Inc is facing a US probe into whether it improperly let Americans trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) scrutiny of Coinbase has increased since the platform expanded the number of tokens in which it offers trading, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the inquiry hasn’t been disclosed publicly.