Coinbase Crypto Chaos! đŸ˜± Oregon AG Goes Rogue!

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Oregon’s Attorney General, bless his cotton socks, has decided to wade into the murky waters of cryptocurrency, listing XRP and a gaggle of 30 other digital baubles as “unregistered securities” in a state-level squabble with Coinbase. One might think they’d have more pressing matters, like rogue squirrels or the existential dread of another rainy Tuesday. This legal fandango comes on the heels of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reluctantly abandoning its own case against the crypto exchange. Industry titans and investors, naturally, are crying foul, suggesting this is a politically motivated stunt. One can only assume they’re referring to the upcoming election where every politician is trying to look like they know what blockchain is. 🙄

XRP, SOL, And ADA Called ‘Unregistered Securities’ (Oh, the Horror!)

On the 18th of April, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (a name that sounds suspiciously like a character from a bad dime novel) filed a complaint against Coinbase. He alleges that the US-based crypto exchange has been flouting Oregon securities law by peddling unregistered cryptocurrencies to the state’s unsuspecting residents. One wonders if Mr. Rayfield has ever tried explaining blockchain to his grandmother. I suspect not.

The court document, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, drones on about how the crypto exchange “has continuously and repeatedly violated the Oregon Securities Law,” blah, blah, blah. It seems someone’s been burning the midnight oil with a law book and a pot of very strong coffee.

Paradigm’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, a chap named Justin Slaughter, chimed in, calling the Oregon AG’s complaint a “true kitchen sink lawsuit.” This means, I gather, that it includes everything but the kitchen sink. One can almost picture the poor legal team frantically Googling “obscure cryptocurrency regulations” at 3 AM.

The lawsuit claims that Coinbase offered and sold 31 cryptocurrencies as investment contracts. The list of alleged “unregistered securities” reads like a Scrabble hand gone horribly wrong: AAVE, ADA, ALGO, AMP, APE, ATOM, AVAX, AXS, CHZ, COMP, DASH, DDX, EOS, FIL, FLOW, ICP, LCX, LINK, MATIC, MIR, MKR, NEAR, POWR, RLY, SAND, SOL, UNI, VGX, WLUNA, XRP, and XYO. One shudders to think what acronyms they’ll come up with next. đŸ€Ż

Eleanor Terret, a journalist and podcast host (a modern-day oracle, no doubt), pointed out that Rayfield’s complaint names 18 more cryptocurrencies than the SEC originally did. The SEC, in their infinite wisdom, only listed 13 tokens: SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, and NEXO. Clearly, Oregon is determined to outdo the Feds in the art of bureaucratic overreach.

For those of you who haven’t been following this digital soap opera, the SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023, claiming the platform was an unregistered securities exchange. The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2025. One might be forgiven for thinking the SEC had better things to do than chase after crypto unicorns.

Coinbase Slams Oregon AG’s Lawsuit (The Gloves Are Off!)

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO), Paul Grewal, declared that “no matter your asset or project,” the Oregon Attorney General has “accused you of violating securities laws and fleecing your token holders.” Strong words, indeed! One imagines Mr. Grewal puffing on a cigar and sharpening his legal claws.

In his Monday post, he added that the exchange had notified around 560,000 of its users in Oregon “about the unlawful action taken in their name.” Last week, Grewal called the lawsuit an “embarrassing waste of Oregon taxpayer dollars.” One can almost hear the collective sigh of Oregonians realizing their tax money is being used to fight over digital tokens. 😮

Rayfield argues that Coinbase sold high-risk investments without being properly vetted to protect consumers. Grewal, however, has suggested the lawsuit is politically motivated. The plot thickens! It seems everyone has an agenda in this digital drama.

“Look no further than section 9,” he thunders, “where it 1) omits Judge Failla’s order granting interlocutory appeal of the @SECGov case; 2) omits any mention of Judge Torres’ decision in XRP; and 3) bears the stamp of the two private law firms brought on to profit from this suit; 4) labels the Chairman of the SEC as a “crypto lobbyist” and 5) decries the reassignment of Gensler’s lead lawyer to the IT department. Not exactly subtle.”

Coinbase’s CLO has also stated that the Attorney General’s office had “made it clear” that they were “literally picking up where the Gary Gensler SEC left off.” Grewal considers Oregon AG’s “copycat case” is attempting to “resurrect” the Commission’s long-criticized regulatory approach, which was recently dropped. One can only wonder what other skeletons the SEC has lurking in its regulatory closet.

Notably, the SEC has pivoted from its “regulation by enforcement” strategy to oversee the sector under the crypto-friendly Trump administration. They’ve scaled back their special crypto enforcement unit, closed or paused most of its major litigations, and created the Crypto Task Force to oversee the establishment of a comprehensive regulatory framework. One can only hope this framework is more coherent than a drunken sailor’s chart. đŸ»

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2025-04-23 06:16