Coinbase Ramps Up Legal Team Amid Ongoing SEC Battle

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Coinbase Exchange has strengthened its legal artillery with three important additions to the board of directions. However, the platform remains at odds with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The crypto industry continues to grow, boasting more adoption, and as time goes on, top legal minds and the political elite draw to it like moths to light.

SEC Showdown: Coinbase Expands Legal Team

Amid an ongoing legal battle, Coinbase hired three key personnel to join the firm’s board of directors.

Paul Clement: With a record of accomplishment overturning the High Court’s 1984 Chevron doctrine, Clement greatly curtailed federal agencies’ regulatory powers. He is a Supreme Court attorney and served as solicitor general in the administration of former US President George Bush.

Clement recently wrote an amicus brief on behalf of Custodia. The crypto bank is appealing a Wyoming district court decision that the Federal Reserve had the authority to deny Custodia a master account. Without this account, Custodia would be accessible to the central bank’s payment system.

Moreover, he has a profile targeting federal regulators who have proven to be an obstacle to crypto in the US.

Chris Lehane: He ascends to the board after serving as Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council member. He also served as a Democrat strategist to former US President Bill Clinton in 1992. Lehane is a legal operator in all 50 US states and overseas and serves as Vice President of Public Works at OpenAI.

“With countries around the world developing new rules that embrace crypto’s potential to update the financial system, Chris will provide strategic counsel to Coinbase’s leadership as the company works to make onchain the new online,” Coinbase said in the announcement.

Christa Davies: Davies will join Coinbase’s audit and compliance committee to support the firm’s financial operations. She is the former chief financial officer (CFO) of management consulting firm Aon and also served as CFO of Microsoft’s platforms and services division.

Besides the new additions, the Coinbase legal team also features Eugene Scalia, ex-Labor Secretary and son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Indeed, even legal bigwigs also give in to the allure of crypto’s multi-trillion dollar industry.

The largest US-based exchange has three different cases with the US SEC. In June 2023, the regulator filed lawsuits against Coinbase and other exchanges for offering unregistered securities. It also cites them for violating business registration requirements.

According to the SEC, Coinbase has avoided the securities market disclosure scheme. It alleges that the platform has never registered as a broker, national securities exchange, or clearing agency. The exchange attempted to subpoena the regulator, including personal documents of its chair, Gary Gensler.

The move, however, faced judicial criticism, with Judge Katherine Polk Failla saying this was misguided. Therefore,Clement and the other additions bolster the exchange’s artillery as it continues taking on the US SEC.

“Excited to have the smartest political, legal, and financial minds from around the world (and from both sides of the aisle) joining the crypto movement. Welcome Paul Clement, Christa Davies, and Chris Lehane to Coinbase’s Board of Directors – excited to work with you to create more economic freedom for the world,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote.

by beincrypto