Following the SEC’s fresh lawsuit against Coinbase, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has pointed out the hypocrisy in the agency’s pro-innovation stance, declaring that the SEC’s moves are in fact anti-innovation. This comment came amid widespread backlash against the SEC’s latest crackdown against relatively harmless crypto institutions, with a major focus on Binance and Coinbase.
Brad Garlinghouse made his stance clear in a tweet on his personal handle, alleging that the SEC is only “throwing lawsuits at the wall” with an aim to draw the community’s attention away from the agency’s FTX failure.
ICYMI: The SEC files separate suits against Coinbase and Binance
In case you missed it, the SEC recently filed a fresh lawsuit against Coinbase, the country’s largest cryptocurrency platform, alleging non-compliance with existing rules. The regulator claims Coinbase intentionally refused to follow laws barring it from listing securities as commodities, referring to the popular cryptocurrency exchange as an unregistered securities dealer.
However, that wasn’t the SEC’s only attack on cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms recently; in a similar and almost simultaneous lawsuit, the agency also accused Binance of blatantly disregarding US securities law. This fresh lawsuit is the newest attack in the SEC’s ongoing legal ‘war’ against Binance.
In both lawsuits, the regular claims the companies are deliberately dealing with securities without authorization, while both companies decry a lack of regulatory clarity.
Meanwhile, both Coinbase and Binance have promised to keep doing all they can to keep their doors open to customers for as long as possible as the situation unfolds.
Why the SEC is under fire
Many members of the cryptocurrency community do not believe the SEC’s lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance are justified and in good faith, especially when real scams have slipped under the agency’s nose in recent years.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is part of a section of the community faulting the SEC for doing nothing about FTX until its collapse while sparing no minute to frustrate the operations of perfectly legitimate companies dealing in cryptocurrencies and similar assets.
However, Garlinghouse isn’t the only prominent crypto stakeholder attacking the SEC; Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also commented on the ongoing situation, with CZ pointing out that the regulator didn’t sue FTX.
