[HN Gopher] Coinbase Receives Wells Notice
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       Coinbase Receives Wells Notice
        
       Author : nkw
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2023-03-22 21:37 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | chrisbolt wrote:
       | https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1638654192138199041.html
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | retrocryptid wrote:
       | Finally.
        
       | pedalpete wrote:
       | From what I am understanding of this, it is a notice from the SEC
       | specifically focused on the current question if staked coins are
       | a security.
       | 
       | This is not the end of Coinbase or crypto.
       | 
       | If staking is deemed to be a security, it will have an impact on
       | crypto, and as far as I understand, it means that PoS coins would
       | need to be registered with the SEC as securities, or potentially
       | Coinbase would be the registered party required to govern the
       | coins they offer to stake.
       | 
       | Am I understanding this correctly?
        
         | paulpauper wrote:
         | _This is not the end of Coinbase or crypto._
         | 
         | It's not the end, but it's obviously not good either. It
         | signifies that the fed. govt. is continuing its squeeze on
         | crypto, probably spurred by the recent major bank failures,
         | which crypto contributed to at least three of them. It's just
         | another notch on top of bad news earlier. The stock is down a
         | lot in AH 12%, on top of 8% decline during the regular session,
         | for a total decline of 20% in a day.
         | 
         | From Coinbase's blog, looks like it covers a lot, not just
         | staking but multiple services:
         | 
         | https://www.coinbase.com/blog/we-asked-the-sec-for-reasonabl...
         | 
         |  _Today, we are disappointed to share that the SEC gave us a
         | "Wells notice" regarding an unspecified portion of our listed
         | digital assets, our staking service Coinbase Earn, Coinbase
         | Prime, and Coinbase Wallet after a cursory investigation._
         | 
         | Isn't this a good chunk of its business?
        
         | yokem55 wrote:
         | The issue isn't whether proof of stake itself is a security,
         | it's whether Coinbase's service of staking on behalf of its
         | customers is a security.
         | 
         | Coinbase has argued that all they are doing is providing IT
         | services to do what their customers could do on their own. How
         | well that holds up in court really depends on the arguments
         | that the SEC makes, and how the courts views Coinbase's
         | response.
        
       | paulpauper wrote:
       | A blog I read make such a prediction yesterday...astute. Not the
       | same thing, but shows the precarious situation it finds itself
       | in:
       | 
       |  _What happens if Coinbase is cut off from banking? FTX was a
       | total scam; Coinbase is a completely legitimate company--the only
       | really, deeply, compliant exchange. Once CB cannot bank, the
       | precedent is set--no one in crypto can touch the banking system.
       | Forever. And as we'll see, it doesn't even need to be forever._
        
         | positivelypolit wrote:
         | [dead]
        
         | surgical_fire wrote:
         | > Moreover, this trillion has a higher propensity to spend than
         | most of the investor wealth that gets destroyed--so there will
         | be proportionately macroeconomic effects. Deflationary effects.
         | This money that people thought they had, was not money, and now
         | cannot be spent. Sad!
         | 
         | Nice, maybe this should be tried to deal with inflation instead
         | of rising interest rates.
        
         | piqi wrote:
         | The Wells notice has nothing to do with their banking
         | connections.
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-22 23:02 UTC)