James Murphy, founder and chairman of financial services law firm Murphy & McGonigle, explained in a tweet why he believes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will lose if it takes Coinbase to court. If the SEC follows through on its threat to sue Coinbase, I believe the SEC will lose, Murphy said. The SEC's case has a fatal flaw. And this problem is entirely of Gary Gensler's own making. SEC Chairman Gensler testified to Congress on May 6, 2021, that the SEC has no authority to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges. Gensler's testimony comes after the U.S. Senate confirmed him as SEC chairman on April 14, 2021. He was sworn in on April 17, 2021.
So there will be emails, meeting minutes, memos, text messages, chats, and testimony that suggest an internal consensus within the SEC that it lacks the legal authority of Congress to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges.
So there will be emails, meeting minutes, memos, text messages, chats, and testimony that suggest an internal consensus within the SEC that it lacks the legal authority of Congress to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges.