Months prior to the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase became the biggest target of the US crackdown on digital assets, the company had already launched an unusual legal offensive, recruiting top lawyers to try to shape court rulings in other cases.
Before the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase on June 6, the company had weighed in on two other crypto-related lawsuits brought by the regulator and urged judges to take in views on open legal questions that are now at the heart of its own case. In each case, Coinbase filed briefs as an “amicus,” or friend of the court.While common at the US Supreme Court, amicus briefs are filed in just 0.1 percent of cases in federal trial courts, according to law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, although crypto industry groups have been filing an increasing number in SEC cases in support of defendants.
Coinbase is clearly the SEC’s biggest target as it sued it in Manhattan federal court. It made allegations on the company for operating an unregistered exchange, broker and clearinghouse, saying at least 13 of the crypto assets it made available to US investors, including Solana, Cardano and Polygon, were securities.Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s general counsel, told Reuters the day the case was filed that the company is “absolutely committed to defending itself in court.”
