Coinbase filed an appeal in federal court to challenge one legal issue in its dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The appeal calls on the high court to consider whether a digital asset transaction that does not involve an obligation on the part of the original issuer of the asset should be considered an investment contract regulated by the SEC.

Coinbase is seeking to break the legal impasse at the center of the crypto industry's fight with the SEC by filing an interlocutory appeal that will ask the federal court to gain insight into the digital asset regulator's position.

Coinbase argues that the SEC's application of the so-called Howey test to crypto assets has left a unclear understanding of what constitutes a security.

If the appeal is successful, the matter could bring the industry closer to what could ultimately be a U.S. Supreme Court decision that finally settles the matter.