In the past few weeks, there have been rumors that cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is developing a project to inform federal regulators about how it controls the crypto industry.
The information came after Coinbase announced the rejection of previous plans to offer a cryptographic lending product Lend. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this product violates securities laws. The SEC cited two US Supreme Court precedents (the Howie and Rives cases) in a ban, arguing that Lend appears to violate securities laws. Some lawyers explain that the regulator can compare the loan with shares or certificates of interest. Those are exactly the securities that are in the sphere of responsibility of the SEC.
Coinbase has been working hard and long to implement a project of frameworks and tools that will help standardize exchanges' approaches to crypto listings and products. At least this applies to the United States.
Coinbase is one of the founders of the Crypto Rating Council. As a reminder, this 2019 initiative set out to develop a common understanding of how closely a particular cryptocurrency resembles security.
The group rated the cryptocurrency on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 means it is not a security (like bitcoin), and 5 means what is a security. CRC has not made any claims about any cryptocurrencies that fit the description.
Coinbase also published an open-source tech platform last year. The platform is intended for crypto developers. Projects implementing this structure are compatible with Coinbase listing and technical server for trading if the exchange approves these cryptocurrencies for their platform.