Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor for global policy and regulation. He doesn't hold any crypto.
Coinbase Global Inc. is set to make its final case on Tuesday that a judge should spring it from the clutches of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its unregistered-securities dispute.
"This is an extremely important case for, not just the cryptocurrency industry, but for the future of digital assets in America," said Jason Gottlieb, a lawyer who works with crypto clients at Morrison Cohen in New York.Coinbase's motion to get an early judgment argued that the SEC is well out of bounds, but the agency responded that the so-called Howey test that legally determines whether something is a security is very flexible and is meant to be widely interpreted.
The SEC has suffered a series of court setbacks that have demonstrated the federal judges in its multi-front battle against the crypto industry aren't rushing to show the agency deference.
"The treatment of digital assets and the sale of digital assets is absolutely a major question," Gottlieb said."It's much larger than a trillion-dollar question. It's quite literally the future of the global economy."