Paul Grewal's statement comes amid Coinbase's lawsuit with the SEC, which accused the trading platform of failing to register as an exchange, broker and clearing agency. According to the lawyer, the department deviated from its own standard procedure for sending so-called Wells notices – warnings about the possible filing of a lawsuit.
“The SEC has refused to tell us what cryptoassets it considers to be securities. Whereas Wells notices are intended to clarify the charges against a potential defendant. SEC staff are required to provide a detailed explanation of the evidence that will be used against a specific person or entity,” Grewal explained.
A similar situation occurred with the Debt Box crypto platform, which the regulator accused of organizing a fraudulent scheme with cryptocurrencies worth more than $50 million, the chief legal adviser recalled. In March, the court sided with Debt Box, criticizing the SEC for making false statements and sanctioning it for misconduct. Given the lack of credibility of the allegations against Debt Box, the transparency of Wells' process is now in question, says a disgruntled lawyer.
Recently, Paul Grewal spoke out in support of users of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, saying that program codes are not proprietary, so sanctions against the service should be lifted.
Source: Bits
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