Coinbase Lawsuit: Missing XRP? 😱

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Right, so Coinbase, bless their cotton socks, is in a spot of bother 😬 again. This time, it’s the Oregon Attorney General, some chap named Dan Rayfield, who’s got his knickers in a twist. Apparently, they reckon Coinbase was flogging unregistered securities to the good people of Oregon, without so much as a “how do you do” or a warning about the whole “risky investments” thing. Honestly, you’d think they’d learn after all this time… 🙄

And get this, this state-level kerfuffle comes after the SEC, those paragons of regulatory virtue, decided to drop their federal case against Coinbase back in February. Seems they had a bit of a rethink on cryptocurrencies, halting a whole bunch of enforcement cases. One does wonder what sparked that change of heart, doesn’t one? 🤔

According to the attorney general’s office, states are now left to pick up the pieces because the federal authorities are, and I quote, “giving up” and “abandoning these important cases.” Well, isn’t that just special? 🙄

Yesterday, the news broke when Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal (sounds like a character from a Dickens novel, doesn’t it?), took to Twitter to inform the crypto community that the Oregon Attorney General was “resurrecting the dead” by bringing a “copycat case” of the SEC’s enforcement action against Coinbase. Cryptic, much? 🤨

XRP decision omitted

In a recent tweet, our friend Paul Grewal mentioned that Coinbase had finally gotten their hands on the Oregon AG complaint. One can only imagine the paper cuts involved! 📜

We finally got a copy of the Oregon AG complaint. If there were any doubt about the motivation behind it, look no further than section 9, where it 1) omits Judge Failla’s order granting interlocutory appeal of the @SECGov case; 2) omits any mention of Judge Torres’ decision in…

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) April 18, 2025

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. There was absolutely no mention of Judge Torres’ decision in the Ripple lawsuit. Back in July 2023, Judge Torres ruled that XRP is “not necessarily a security on its face,” which rather undermined the SEC’s whole argument, didn’t it? This win wasn’t just a turning point for Ripple but for the entire crypto industry. A bit awkward to leave that out, wouldn’t you say? 🤭

Grewal hinted that the lawsuit aims to revive the regulation by enforcement approach, saying in an initial tweet that the AG’s office made it clear that it was picking up where the former SEC chair, Gary Gensler, left off. Talk about holding a grudge! 😠

“If there were any doubt about the motivation behind it, look no further than section 9,” Grewal stated, along with a screenshot of the lawsuit that omitted Judge Failla’s order granting the SEC’s interlocutory appeal; any mention of Judge Torres’ decision on XRP and “labels the Chairman of the SEC as a crypto lobbyist while also decrying the reassignment of Gensler’s lead lawyer to the IT department.” Oh, the drama! 🎭

Grewal stated that Coinbase remains confident that it is right on the facts and the law and prepared to fight the “misguided” lawsuit. Well, good luck to them, I say! They’ll need it. 🤞

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2025-04-19 17:00