Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, has once again resorted to a mandamus, compelling the SEC to provide a response to the crypto rulemaking petition submitted by the company.
Coinbase is reinforcing its pursuit of a court-ordered directive, pressuring the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into taking action on the cryptocurrency rulemaking petition it has put forth. Coinbase is insistent on the issuance of a mandamus within the next 30 days, compelling the SEC to furnish an official response regarding its acceptance or rejection of the petition.
The SEC delivered a long-awaited status update on October 12, which offered vague indications, mentioning that “commission staff provided a recommendation” to the SEC regarding Coinbase’s petition without divulging any further details. On October 13, in a post on the platform formerly known as Twitter, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, launched a scathing critique against the SEC for dragging its feet and called for a mandamus to compel the SEC to provide a comprehensive outline of its intentions. Grewal also shared Coinbase’s response to the SEC’s update, which they submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The response from Coinbase asserts, “The SEC’s unilluminating report amounts to bureaucratic theater and only reinforces the necessity for a mandamus to prompt the agency to fulfill its obligations earnestly. It took more than a year and a court order to elicit even a staff-level recommendation.” The response goes on to state, “The Commission has made it clear that it does not intend to conduct the rulemaking that Coinbase has requested, and it will employ any bureaucratic maneuvers at its disposal to delay judicial review, provided the Court allows it to do so.”
However, the SEC has countered Coinbase’s stance on numerous occasions, disputing the necessity to meet Coinbase’s stipulations and urging the court to reject Coinbase’s petition for a mandamus. In mid-June, the SEC petitioned the court for an extension of 120 days to respond to the rulemaking petition, potentially signaling that the agency might have a response by the end of October or early November.
