Coinbase CEO Knew Court Battle Was Coming, Met With SEC Several Times But 'Just Got Silence'

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is taking Coinbase Global Inc COIN to court and CEO Brian Armstrong welcomes the opportunity, as he believes it's the only way to advance the crypto industry in the United States. 

What To Know: The SEC brought charges against Coinbase this week, claiming the cryptocurrency company is operating its platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, but Armstrong believes the regulators are mistaken, he said Wednesday morning on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Everything other than Bitcoin BTC/USD is a security, the SEC argues. But that's not what the law says and that's not the position that regulators from every other country around the world are taking, Armstrong argues.

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"So I don't think we really had a choice, honestly, we had to go to court ... otherwise this industry is just not going to exist in the United States," he said.

Armstrong told CNBC that the SEC has shown an unwillingness to embrace cryptocurrency or work with Coinbase outside of court, even though the company has held meetings with regulators several times.

"We met with the SEC 30 times in the last year. They never gave us a single piece of feedback about what we could be doing better. We just got silence," Armstrong said.

The SEC seems set on regulating via enforcement because they won't put clear guidance or rules in place and they won't help clarify expectations, he said, adding at least there will be some sort of clarity on crypto guidelines following the court battle.

See Also: Cramer Says Shocked DoJ 'Avoided Going After Binance' After SEC's Coinbase Lawsuit

COIN Price Action: Coinbase has a 52-week high of $116.30 and a 52-week low of $31.55.

Coinbase shares were up 3.41% at $53.41 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro

Photo: Sergei Tokmakov from Pixabay.