Brian Armstrong says Coinbase spent $50M fighting SEC lawsuit – and beat it

Coinbase on Friday said the SEC has agreed to drop the lawsuit against the company with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again. 

The move, which is still subject to the approval of the SEC’s Commissioners, is yet another signal that the Trump administration plans to be more friendly to crypto than the SEC was under former leader Gary Gensler. 

The SEC’s lawsuit, filed in 2023, alleged that crypto assets were securities and that Coinbase was operating as “an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.” 

Coinbase fought back, arguing, in part, that the SEC hadn’t established clear enough rules concerning crypto in order to sue over breaking them.

“I remember in 2023, a lot of people were advising on this and they were saying, ‘Do not engage in litigation with the SEC, it’s going to cost you tens of millions of dollars,’” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a video he posted on X on Friday announcing that the suit was being dropped. In the video, Armstrong also made allegations about the SEC’s motivations and tactics. 

Armstrong said he fought because he believed that he was saving the crypto industry in America.

“Not as many other companies had deep pockets like we did,” he said. “And ultimately we had to spend $50 million defending this case” — proving the naysayers right on how expensive the fight would be.

A Coinbase spokesperson clarified that this amount included strictly external legal fees, not employee time.

Coinbase’s apparent legal victory aside, Armstrong said that he still believes that the US needs “to get legislation for crypto passed” to codify favorable regulations, or risk falling behind other nations.