Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, is reiterating the call for a mandamus to force the SEC to respond to the company’s crypto rulemaking petition.
Coinbase is pressing for a court order to force the SEC to respond to its crypto rulemaking petition, seeking a clear answer within 30 days. On October 12, the SEC vaguely mentioned that “commission staff provided a recommendation” without further details. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, criticized the SEC’s delay and called for a mandamus to clarify their intentions.
Grewal has also disclosed Coinbase’s reaction to the SEC update, which the company filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“The SEC’s uninformative report is nothing more than bureaucratic theatrics, confirming that only a mandamus can compel the agency to fulfill its obligations seriously. It took over a year and an order from this Court to obtain even a staff-level recommendation,” the response states, with an additional note:
“The Commission has made the decision not to pursue the rulemaking requested by Coinbase, and it will employ every bureaucratic tactic at its disposal to delay judicial review as long as the Court permits it.”
In July 2022, Coinbase originally submitted a rulemaking petition to the SEC, urging the agency to establish rules for regulating the cryptocurrency market, which would encompass defining the criteria for classifying digital assets as securities.
However, after the SEC did not provide a response, Coinbase pursued a petition for mandamus nine months later. This legal move aimed to compel the SEC to provide a clear “yes or no” answer.
Nonetheless, the SEC has countered Coinbase’s requests multiple times, arguing against the necessity to comply with Coinbase’s demands and urging the court to reject Coinbase’s mandamus petition.
In mid-June, the SEC requested a 120-day extension to respond to the rulemaking petition. This extended timeline hints at the possibility of the agency providing a response by the end of October or early November.
