Coinbase has stepped up its efforts to pressure the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to accept its cryptocurrency rulemaking petition. The company has filed a formal response with the Third Circuit regarding the SEC’s recent update to its rulemaking request.

Coinbase again applies for duty in latest response

As Bitcoinist reported earlier, SEC staff made its recommendations to the Commission on Oct. 10, 2023, following Coinbase’s request for mandamus in April. The mandamus petition sought a prompt response to the cryptocurrency company’s July 2022 rulemaking appeal.

However, Coinbase expressed dissatisfaction and frustration with the SEC’s latest update, arguing that it raises more questions than answers. The company claimed that a “formal, public” response to the petition was long overdue, while saying that the financial regulator needed to communicate a timeline for its decision.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal also criticized the SEC for continuing to delay its response to the company’s cryptocurrency rulemaking petition via a post on X (formerly Twitter). According to the Oct. 14 post, Coinbase has filed a response with the Third Circuit, urging the court to grant mandamus to compel the SEC to act on the rulemaking petition.

Some of the responses are as follows:

The SEC’s meaningless “update” is little more than bureaucratic pantomime and confirms that nothing, other than fulfilling its duties, can motivate the agency to take its obligations seriously. It took more than a year and a court order to implement even the staff-level recommendation, and even now the Commission will not commit to action or even bother to inform the court of its intentions.

Is the SEC afraid of judicial review?

In court documents, Coinbase argued that the SEC’s Oct. 11 response was yet another attempt to delay judicial review of its decision to deny the rulemaking petition. “Clearly, the Commission is ready to make a formal ruling on Coinbase’s petition but is simply unwilling to do so in the absence of a court order,” the cryptocurrency company added.

Furthermore, Coinbase claims that the SEC simply decided that it did not want to meet crypto rulemaking requirements. The company believes that the agency will use “every bureaucratic tool in its arsenal” to prevent judicial review as long as the court allows it.

Therefore, Coinbase believes that a writ of mandamus is necessary to “hold the SEC accountable.” Therefore, in its latest letter to the Third Circuit, the cryptocurrency company asked the court to issue an order directing the Commission to act on the rulemaking petition within 30 days.

Coinbase continues to dispute SEC allegations that it illegally operated a national securities exchange, broker-dealer and clearinghouse without proper registration in a separate ongoing legal dispute. However, in a recent development, the SEC asked a federal judge to deny the cryptocurrency company’s request to dismiss the regulator’s lawsuit. #Coinbase  #SEC