Mark Cuban On Coinbase — 'No One Trusts' The SEC, Says 'They're Full Of Lawyers' Who Only Want To Litigate

Billionaire investor and entrepreneur, Mark Cuban, criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its lack of support for companies seeking to comply with U.S. securities regulations. Cuban claimed that the SEC’s main objective is to challenge companies to reach compliance, rather than providing aid and guidance.

What Happened: Cuban on Wednesday criticized the SEC’s approach of directing companies to read previous cases and seek legal counsel to figure out compliance requirements. 

"They are full of lawyers. Lawyers want to litigate. If you had business people, more like the SBA, there would be more compliance, fewer lawsuits and better investor education and protections. But if that happened, 2k SEC lawyers would be out of a job," he said.

Cuban also suggested that the SEC promotes the number of cases and wins they obtain as metrics, rather than measuring the number of companies they assist in reaching compliance and their impact on GDP, jobs, and investor returns.  "As it is, no one wants to talk to the SEC because no one trusts them for fear of being in the same situation as Coinbase finds itself."

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Why It Matters:  Cuban’s comments come amid the SEC’s legal proceedings against Coinbase COIN and Binance for alleged multiple infractions of securities regulations. 

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, also criticized the SEC, stating that the agency does not clearly define what constitutes a security, leading to increased uncertainty and potentially harming innovation in the industry. 

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. 

“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 in a CNBC interview on Wednesday.

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