The Coinbase NFT campaign ‘Stand Strong With Crypto’ puts a spotlight on SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)’s crypto regulatory policies like no other. The drop comes shortly after the giant crypto exchange filed a lawsuit against SEC to regain some of the rights and freedom they allegedly deserve. With nearly 12,000 campaign NFTs already minted, one thing is certain: the web3 community has all eyes on SEC.
Coinbase prepares for a controversial legal battle against SEC and a supporting NFT drop, the company’s CEO Brian Armstrong revealed.
Why Did Coinbase File a Lawsuit Against SEC?
This week, the main US-based crypto exchange Coinbase started a legal battle against SEC – the leading financial regulators. In short, the platform asks SEC to answer a petition issued last year asking for crypto industry regulations via SEC’s current methods.
“The SEC is required by law to respond to petitions ‘within a reasonable time,’ but they have not yet responded to our petition from last July, which is why we filed our action in court today,” said Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal. “It’s obvious that there’s a lack of clarity among our regulators regarding crypto, as even the chair of the SEC has declined to say which crypto assets are securities.”
Brave as it may be, this legal action may come at a cost for Coinbase and crypto platforms in general. That’s exactly how the ‘Stand With Crypto’ NFT campaign was born.
Why is Coinbase’s ‘Stand With Crypto’ NFT Campaign Important?
‘Stand With Crypto’ is an NFT campaign by Coinbase to empower the crypto community for a favorable crypto mandate. In terms of design, the digital asset is a blue shield that stands for courage and protection of the crypto market.
Accordingly, Coinbase partnered with ZORA for the drop. In essence, ZORA is an Ethereum marketplace for Web3 collectors best known for its Tumblr-like collectibles feed.
Together with ZORA, Coinbase will offer all of the NFT proceedings from their campaign to vetted organizations.
Over 11,000 users have already minted Coinbase’s NFT to support the crypto industry.
How Do SEC’s Regulations Affect the Crypto Industry?
This year, SEC has been more involved in crypto than ever before. In February, the commission voted to expand custody rules so that cryptocurrencies would also be included. These federal regulations involve major changes for crypto exchange platforms, including Coinbase.
For example, the rule would mean that crypto investors, managers, and advisors, should keep digital assets with qualified custodians. This practice has been around for a long time for classic financial assets. However, bringing it to the Web3 world raises plenty of questions among investors.
