The SEC Crypto Exchange Coinbase (Coin) is examining whether it has misused its user numbers in the filing and marketing materials of previous securities.
The investigation began under the pre-Presidential administration, while the SEC was still under the control of the then Chairman Gary Genslar according to the NYT, who first reported the story, but has remained under the current, crypto-friendly leadership of the SEC.
Metric coinbase in the heart of investigation claims that more than 100 million are “verified users.” It stopped using metrics in both disclosure and marketing materials in 2021, the year it became public on Nasdaq.
Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer of the Coinbase, in an email statement, told Coindesk that the SEC investigation “is a hold-over investigation about a metric from the former administration that we stopped reporting two and a half years ago, which was completely revealed to the public.”
“We explained that verified user metrics include anyone who verify his email address or phone number with us, so it can reduce the number of unique customers,” Grewal said “we also revealed – and continue to disclose – ‘Monthly transactions users’ – more relevant metrics of ‘monthly transactions’ – people who use our stage in a given month.”
“While we strongly believe that this investigation should not be released, we are committed to working with SEC to bring the matter closer,” Grewal said.
The SEC did not respond to coindsk’s request to comment by press time.
Already under pressure due to the revelations of a data breech, the coin shares submerged a little more on this SEC news, which is now 6.6% below the session.
