Coinbase Wins Big in Token Sales Lawsuit
Coinbase has won a significant victory in a lawsuit filed by customers over the sale of various tokens, including XRP and dogecoin. The largest US cryptocurrency exchange was accused of selling securities without registering as an exchange or broker-dealer.
The suit claimed that Coinbase engaged in 'matched' transactions, where it paired buy and sell orders for its customers, which accounted for 99.97% of trading volume - estimated to be hundreds of billions of dollars.
In a ruling issued on July 30, US District Judge Paul Engelmayer dismissed the claims related to these matched transactions, stating that Coinbase did not pass ownership of tokens to buyers and did not induce or solicit transactions by providing basic overviews of tokens and their price histories.
The judge allowed customers to pursue claims over 'inventory' transactions, where Coinbase filled orders from tokens it owned. This accounted for 0.03% of trading volume, comprising at least $178 million in sales.