The New York Times Reports on SEC Investigation
The New York Times (NYT) reported Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Coinbase misrepresented its now-discontinued “verified user” metric in past disclosures, according to David Yaffe-Bellany and Matthew Goldstein. The probe, citing over 100 million users in filings until 2023, began under the Biden administration and continues under President Trump’s SEC, per four anonymous sources.
Coinbase's Response to the Inquiry
Coinbase, which stopped reporting the metric 2.5 years ago and joined the S&P 500 this week, retained Davis Polk & Wardwell to address the inquiry, calling it a “holdover” issue. Though Trump’s SEC dropped over a dozen crypto cases, including a 2023 lawsuit against Coinbase, regulators are reviewing whether past user counts misled investors. Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal disputed the probe’s validity but said Coinbase is cooperating.