Following the response against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed by Coinbase in the US court of law, the court has engaged with the petition. The court has also established a timeline for the SEC to streamline the proceedings.
According to the court order released on Thursday, the SEC will present its response to Coinbase’s first legal defense on July 13. Reportedly, the date for the hearing is now much earlier than expected, prompted by a “creative” defense tactic employed by Coinbase.
Such tactics are referred to the instance wherein exchange filed its first response 40 days before the deadline of August 7. According to the rules, the SEC had to file a response to Coinbase’s defense by July 3. However, the SEC asked for an extension of three business days owing to the July 4 holiday weekend, which was granted by the court.
Additionally, the court converted the pre-trial conference to a pre-motion conference and pushed it forward to July 13 at 14:00 UTC from August 24. Notably, a pre-motion conference is an application made by the prosecutor or defense attorney, requesting the court make a decision on a certain issue before the trial.
In response to the SEC’s complaint, Coinbase has argued that many of the tokens highlighted in the SEC’s case fall outside the Commission’s purview rejecting the base of allegations it build its case on. It also claimed that “the SEC has chosen” to pursue enforcement actions.
Further, Coinbase’s response contains a point-by-point answer to the SEC’s lawsuit. In a separate document filed to the judge overseeing the case, the exchange alleged that its due process rights were violated when the SEC brought the lawsuit and that the lawsuit may violate the “major questions” doctrine. The company asked the judge to let it file for judgement and set a 7-week schedule for its motion, the SEC’s opposition and its own response to the opposition.
Notably, Coinbase’s lawsuit came months after the Wells Notice from March. Following that, both parties have been constantly proceeding with respective strategies to enjoy an upper hand.
Soon after the Wells Notice, the exchange retaliated with narrow legal action. Upon Coinbase’s petition, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit responded to the complaint against the SEC regarding the need for clear rules for trading digital assets.
However, this has not proved to be much helpful as the regulator continues to reiterate its radical ideology that all crypto assets are securities and no further regulations are required. Overall, Coinbase has mostly been hopeful and optimistic in the wake of the lawsuit and has shown the willingness to be give a tough time to the SEC in the court.
The CEO, Brian Armstrong, in an interview said that any clarity from the courts, irrespective of the outcome, will be a “step in the right direction.” He also said that he places his trust in the US court in case of no engagement from the Congress.