Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency, News

CoinBase Cancels Proposed Lending Program after SEC Scrutiny

As we posted last week, CoinBase’s proposed lending program, where its customers would be able to use cryptocurrency to make loans to third parties raised objections from the SEC. Coinbase objected to the objections in a public statement, claiming it didn’t know what the problem was.

There isn’t much public information available about the program, but as we dug in a bit it certainly appeared that the proposed program would be a security, which would require registration with the SEC, or compliance with an exemption. Our examination of the issue is at CoinBase Plan May Be a Security

Well, apparently CoinBase has figured out what the SEC’s issue is, or simply decided that the cost of registration, or of the fight with the SEC wasn’t worth the benefit. Yesterday they announced the cancellation of the proposed LEND program.

From their website:

Our goal is to create great products for our customers and to advance our mission to increase economic freedom in the world. As we continue our work to seek regulatory clarity for the crypto industry as a whole, we’ve made the difficult decision not to launch the USDC APY program announced below. We have also discontinued the waitlist for this program as we turn our work to what comes next. We had hundreds of thousands of customers from across the country sign up and we want to thank you all for your interest. We will not stop looking for ways to bring innovative, trusted programs and products to our customers.

Securities Attorney at Sallah Astarita & Cox | 212-509-6544 | mja@sallahlaw.com | Website | + posts

Mark Astarita is a nationally recognized securities attorney, who represents investors, financial professionals and firms in securities litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters, including SEC and FINRA investigations and enforcement proceedings.

He is a partner in the national securities law firm Sallah Astarita & Cox, LLC, and the founder of The Securities Law Home Page - SECLaw.com, which was one of the first legal topic sites on the Internet. It went online in 1995 and is updated daily with news, commentary and securities law related links.

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