FILE PHOTO: People exit the headquarters of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
(Reuters) - For as long as I’ve been covering U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission litigation against crypto targets, the industry has harshly criticized the commission for bringing one-at-a-time enforcement actions as a way to set crypto regulatory policy, instead of engaging in formal rulemaking or waiting for Congress to pass legislation that clarifies when U.S. securities laws apply to digital assets.
In the latest example, a onetime Coinbase Global Inc manager who was accused last year of insider trading by both the U.S. Justice Department and the SEC moved this week to dismiss the SEC’s complaint, arguing, among other things, that he didn't know the Ethereum-based crypto tokens he traded would be defined as securities by the SEC. The ex-Coinbase employee, Ishan Wahi, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to commit wire fraud, but even at the plea hearing in his criminal case, Wahi insisted that the relevant tokens were not securities.
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