Coinbase Leaves Its ‘Lend’ Program For What It Is

After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a warning to the exchange, Chief Executive Officer, Brian Armstrong, said Coinbase was forced to think twice and keep their long term ambitions alive by backing away. Coinbase commented with the following statement:

The SEC’s warning came by means of a “Wells Notice.” A Wells Notice is a formal way of announcing that the regulator may bring charges against a company or its employees.

This was shared on Coinbase’s company blog, where Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, expressed his disbelief at the SEC’s position as he questioned the assertion the lending feature can be deemed as an “investment contract or a note.”

“Last Wednesday, after months of effort by Coinbase to engage productively, the SEC gave us what’s called a Wells notice about our planned Coinbase Lend program. A Wells notice is the official way a regulator tells a company that it intends to sue the company in court. As surprised as we were at the SEC’s threat to sue without ever telling us why, we want to be transparent with you about the course of events leading up to it.”

Coinbase is not the only business in the crypto space that have received such feedback from the U.S. regulator. Lending platforms such as BlockFi and Celsius have also been handed some warnings of the same legal suit.

The cancellation or possibly just a postponement of Lend does not withhold Coinbase to go ahead with their relaunch of Coinbase Prime, its comprehensive platform for institutional investors. Updated capabilities available to businesses such as MicroStrategy, Meitu and One River, who are “hodling” their Bitcoin with the help of Brian Armstrong’s exchange.