The request would have meant ‘the end of the crypto industry in the US’, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. If the company had agreed, that could have set a precedent that would have left the vast majority of the American crypto businesses operating outside the law unless they registered with the commission.
“They came back to us, and they said . . . we believe every asset other than bitcoin is a security,” Armstrong said. “And, we said, well how are you coming to that conclusion, because that’s not our interpretation of the law. And they said, we’re not going to explain it to you, you need to delist every asset other than bitcoin.”
https://www.ft.com/content/1f873dd5-df8f-4cfc-bb21-ef83ed11fb4d