Coinbase isn’t just fighting the SEC—it’s now taking on the CFTC.
Coinbase is now dragging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) into the fray. The crypto giant filed a motion on October 1, asking a federal court to force the CFTC to turn over any communications it had with several cryptocurrency issuers.
These documents are crucial to Coinbase’s defense as the SEC claims that 12 tokens sold by the exchange are unregistered securities.
Coinbase argues that these communications could determine whether these tokens actually meet the legal definition of securities.
The crypto exchange has already subpoenaed the CFTC twice—first in June, then again in July—yet the regulator has allegedly refused to cooperate, calling the requests too broad, burdensome, and protected by privilege.
Despite a federal judge already ordering the SEC to produce similar information, Coinbase claims the CFTC has dragged its feet, failing even to conduct a search for the requested documents.
Coinbase maintains that this information is essential to its defense, particularly as the CFTC and SEC have both sought insights from crypto issuers in the past to better understand the industry’s regulatory landscape.
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At the heart of this legal struggle are tokens like Solana, Cardano, Polygon, and Filecoin, which are part of the SEC’s claim that Coinbase violated securities laws by acting as an unregistered broker.
The CFTC’s reluctance to share documents only adds another layer of complexity to an already high-profile case that could reshape the crypto market’s regulatory future.
The court’s decision could be a pivotal moment, not just for Coinbase, but for the broader crypto world as regulatory bodies and exchanges continue to clash over how digital assets should be classified and controlled.
