As reported by FinTelegram last week, the U.S. SEC announced insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager and two other people. The U.S. DOJ announced the arrest of these individuals. According to Barron’s, the case “hinges on a subtle but critical” question of whether some cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase are actually securities. Consequently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a respective probe into Coinbase, Bloomberg reported.
In an email, a Coinbase spokesperson told Reuters that the company does not list securities on its platform, while its legal head Paul Grewal said they looked forward to engaging with the SEC. “We are confident that our rigorous diligence process — a process the SEC has already reviewed — keeps securities off our platform,” Grewal added.
The SEC declined to confirm at the time whether it would pursue action against Coinbase for listing the tokens deemed securities in the complaint.
In the first crypto insider trading case, SEC and U.S. prosecutors had charged the former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi for sharing confidential information about forthcoming announcements of new crypto assets that Coinbase would allow users to trade through its exchange.
