Coinbase Says SEC is Set to Dismiss Lawsuit

Coinbase, the biggest U.S. crypto exchange, said it has reached an agreement with staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission to dismiss its lawsuit accusing the company of running an illegal securities exchange. Coinbase stock rose 2.2% Friday morning.

The plan is subject to approval by the commission, which is now occupied by a majority of crypto-friendly commissioners. The dismissal means Coinbase will not pay any penalty and will make no changes to its business, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on X, adding that the company had spent about $50 million litigating the case.

The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 for running an unregistered securities exchange, broker-dealer and clearing agency, as part of its crackdown on crypto platforms following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. An SEC victory in the case could have forced Coinbase to significantly overhaul its structure and stop listing many tokens, though the crypto industry had widely expected a more favorable outcome for Coinbase following the election of President Donald Trump. The SEC still has similar outstanding lawsuits against Kraken and Binance.