The state of Oregon has filed for a lawsuit against Coinbase, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, which is similar to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC lawsuit was dismissed back in February 2025 but with this new lawsuit filed by Oregon, the state trying to impose strict regulation on crypto platforms.
Oregon’s lawsuit comes at a time when there has been a cooling of state-level enforcement actions, with several states dropping staking-related suits against the exchange earlier this year. However, seven states still have ongoing cases against the exchange.
The SEC had filed the lawsuit against Coinbase back in June 2023 for operating as an unregistered securities exchange and carrying out trading in multiple tokens classified as securities. The SEC had also challenged Coinbase’s staking program, and claiming that it should also have been registered under securities law.
However, in February 2025, there was a shift in the leadership of the SEC and the lawsuit was dropped. The main aim of the new leadership is to focus on developing clear crypto regulations instead of imposing aggressive enforcement actions.
Even though the SEC lawsuit has been dismissed, Oregon’s Division of Financial Regulation is still pursuing the same charges against the exchange and is aiming to enforce compliance with state securities laws. This move and filing of the lawsuit indicates that the state is concerned about the investors and is committed towards protecting them amid a fragmented regulatory environment where the state is taking independent action in absence of detailed federal rules.
As soon as the news of the lawsuit broke out, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) and pointed out that with this lawsuit the state government is wasting the tax payers money as the case is useless and it is nothing but repeating stories that the SEC had abandoned.
Coinbase’s CLO also affirmed that the exchange will “firmly respond to the lawsuit. The CLO also confirmed that the exchange will continue its normal operations in Oregon, and will not stop fighting for justice on behalf of its customers and the broader crypto industry.
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