There's some familiar arguments, and they all point to one conclusion: This is going to take a while.
Welcome to State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. I’m your host, Nikhilesh De. Crypto exchange Kraken filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit it faces by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission didn't allege actual fraud or harms to Kraken's consumers, the exchange argued in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit it faces. |
This is one of several lawsuits the industry is tracking, including those against Coinbase and Binance.US, plus a new entrant hoping to secure a favorable ruling in a specific district. These suits all share one premise: How, exactly, might the SEC oversee the crypto industry and are its current actions appropriate? |
Some part of the Kraken motion to dismiss treads what at this point is very familiar ground: That the SEC hasn't really made its case that any of the assets it named are securities, that it's stretching the definition of an "investment contract, and that it's overstepping its boundary.
Other parts are a little more unique: Kraken referenced the SEC's arguments that the exchange actively marketed the digital assets it named, but didn't delve too deeply into that. And the exchange said the SEC hadn't alleged any direct consumer harm, but didn't explicitly address the SEC's commingling allegations.
Still, Kraken employed similar arguments to the ones made by Coinbase and Binance.US in their own motions to dismiss. We haven't gotten many definitive rulings on this argument, and we won't for a while. But one thing is clear: There's a very good chance that the Supreme Court of the United States might end up involved at some point.
The Coinbase case is in the Southern District of New York, Binance.US is in the District of Washington and Kraken is in the Northern District of California. Another company, going by the name Legit.Exchange, just filed suit against the SEC in the Northern District of Texas. The chances of four different district judges in four different districts finding a consensus is a bit slim. Assuming the parties involved appeal whatever rulings come out, we're also looking at a few appeals courts that will weigh in.
While it's obviously way too early to try and predict where these cases will go, it seems likely at this stage that – given the resources of the parties involved – at least one of these cases will probably keep getting appealed until that route is exhausted.
My question for the legally versed readers of this newsletter: What might that look like? What sort of timeline are we looking at, and what all might happen before SCOTUS, assuming we get that far?
You can respond to this newsletter if you have thoughts or reach out on Telegram. |
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If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Twitter @nikhileshde. You can also join the group conversation on Telegram. See y’all next week! |
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