Coinbase CEO Says SEC ‘Caused Untold Harm To America,’ Urges Congress to Step In

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong urged Congress to step in and stop the country’s financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), from further causing “untold harm to America with its policy of regulation by enforcement.”

Over the past couple of days, the Coinbase CEO spent some time with two of the most important groups the cryptocurrency industry needs in terms of regulations, Congress and the SEC.

Armstrong shared with his Twitter followers a picture showing him and some members of the House of Representatives on Friday.

“Spent the day in DC meeting with members of Congress. We need regulatory clarity in the U.S. for the centralized players in crypto for many reasons – consumer protection, national security, economic growth, etc,” the Coinbase co-founder tweeted.

“The SEC has caused untold harm to America with its policy of regulation by enforcement. We will fight to fix that,” he wrote.

A day after meeting with members of Congress, Armstrong posted another picture on Twitter, this time showing him and some officials at the SEC.

In the caption, he wrote that Coinbase will “continue pushing for a clear rule book in the U.S. for crypto regs.” He noted that the United States “can’t afford to fall behind on this important technology to update the financial system.”

He also underlined that regulators should first set policies before enforcing them and not the other way around.

“Also important for regulators to set policy and THEN enforce it. Not start with enforcement before there are clear rules 🧐 At this point seems like Congress will need to step in,” Armstrong tweeted.

Last week, the Coinbase CEO sat down with the United Kingdom’s economic secretary to the Treasury MP Andrew Griffith, seemingly hinting at the high possibility of the major U.S.-based centralized crypto exchange platform considering launching in the U.K. amid the ongoing crypto crackdown and regulatory uncertainty in the United States.

Armstrong shared some points he and the U.K. official shared during the meeting, which include: “Some UK banks are blocking fiat payments to crypto companies which is not ok. Good fraud controls make sense, a blanket ban does not (and is likely not lawful). Needs further education and collaboration,” as well as “the Financial Promotion regime goes too far if there is a 24-hour ‘cooling off’ period for crypto trades (harms real-world use cases, formation of capital markets, and consumers).”

In March, Coinbase received a Wells Notice from the SEC after the financial regulator claimed it had made a “preliminary determination” to recommend an enforcement action against the major crypto exchange platform.