Coinbase was warned by the Securities and Exchange Commission against launching a product that would allow consumers to earn interest on their crypto holdings, saying the agency will bring an enforcement action if the company goes ahead with its Lend product. Coinbase expressed surprise at the SEC’s move, in a blog post, adding it plans to delay the launch at least until October.
“The SEC has told us it wants to sue us over Lend. We have no idea why,” the post written by Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is titled. It goes on to say the SEC has told Coinbase it considers Lend “to involve a security, but wouldn’t say why or how they’d reached that conclusion.”