Law Professor Yuliya Guseva on the Binance, Ripple, and Coinbase Lawsuits

by
Nick Marinoff
My articles My books
Follow on:

Do the present lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase raise any red flags? A law professor at Rutgers University named Yuliya Guseva believes they do, and she thinks it’s highly unlikely nations like the U.S. will be able to dole out proper regulation before financial agencies do irreparable damage.

Yuliya Guseva on the State of Crypto in America

In a recent interview, Guseva said:

The future of crypto-asset regulation in the U.S. is not fully predictable.

Right now, the crypto industry in the United States appears to be more up in the air than it’s ever been. Besides both Coinbase and Binance, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has another lawsuit with Ripple, one of the world’s leading crypto companies. Stuart Alderoty – chief legal officer for the firm – recently stated in an interview regarding the charges against his firm:

Even if true, this only shows that the SEC’s unelected bureaucrats believe they have unchecked power to issue indiscriminate, closed-door edicts under pain of punishment to those who don’t blindly obey. We have crossed from regulation by enforcement to hubris most foul.

In a recent blog post, Binance said:

The SEC’s real intent here, instead, appears to be to make headlines. All user assets on Binance and Binance-affiliate platforms, including Binance.US, are safe and secure, and we will vigorously defend against any allegations to the contrary.

Paul Grewal – the chief legal officer and general counsel for Coinbase – also threw his two cents into the mix, stating:

The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement-only approach in the absence of clear rules for the digital asset industry is hurting America’s economic competitiveness and companies like Coinbase that have a demonstrated commitment to compliance. In the meantime, we’ll continue to operate our business as usual.

Guseva says the outcome of the Ripple lawsuit could prove huge for the future of crypto in America. She mentioned:

There is a progression of SEC enforcement actions. The SEC started with primary markets, namely unregistered [initial coin offerings]. Ripple is one of the last cases of this generation. The primary question in these cases is whether crypto assets are securities. The outcome of the Ripple litigation, therefore, will be a major win or loss for the SEC.

Brian Armstrong – the CEO of Coinbase – said:

I always tell people the same thing. Don’t invest money you are unwilling to lose. This is a new field of technology. It’s one of the most important technological fields in the world, but don’t speculate with assets that you are unwilling to lose.

Customer Funds Are Safe

However, Oleg Elkhunovich – a partner at Susman Godfrey – says the SEC is not after customers’ funds. He explained that this is primarily against the companies:

“Disgorgement is a remedy that goes after improperly [obtained] gains. Those would not be user assets. User assets should be separated.”