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Lawyers for Cynthia Lummis filed an amicus brief as part of Coinbase’s appeal over a ruling in its case with the SEC, claiming the commission “flouts” its enforcement authority.
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Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a crypto holder and US lawmaker vocal about her support for legislation and regulation favoring the digital asset industry, has penned an amicus brief in support of Coinbase’s appeal against the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a Jan. 24 filing in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Lummis claimed that the SEC “flouts” its approach to crypto enforcement cases, arguing that the regulator exceeded its authority. The senator said that “decades-old securities statutes and regulations” could not always be applied to modern assets like cryptocurrencies and called for lawmakers to establish a framework for digital assets.
“With lawsuits pending across the country that rely on the SEC’s overzealous interpretation of the securities laws, it is vital that the Second Circuit — the country’s leading securities law court — weigh in now and halt the SEC’s contravention of the separation of powers and encroachment on Congress’s lawmaking powers,” said the amicus brief. “A Second Circuit standard regarding when digital assets qualify as securities is urgently needed.”
Senator Lummis’ amicus brief supporting Coinbase. Source: PACER
The appeal to the Second Circuit could determine whether the SEC’s civil case against Coinbase moves forward in the Southern District of New York. On Jan. 7, Judge Katherine Failla ordered the SEC case to be stayed until the appellate court could rule on potentially reversing an order denying Coinbase’s motion for judgment.
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At the center of the regulator’s case against Coinbase is the interpretation of securities laws and how they may apply to certain cryptocurrencies and activities at digital asset firms. Senator Lummis said the SEC had a “novel interpretation” of the law in its crypto enforcement cases, claiming that Congress did not intend to grant the commission such authority.
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Should the appellate court reverse the lower court ruling, it could impact how the SEC handles pending enforcement actions against crypto exchanges, including Ripple Labs and Binance. Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whom many in the industry claimed spearheaded the lawsuits, stepped down on Jan. 20, but the commission’s cases are still moving through the courts.
US President Donald Trump nominated former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to take over the remainder of Gensler’s term, ending in June 2026. Commissioner Mark Uyeda has been serving as acting chair until the Senate considers Atkins’ nomination.
Following Republicans taking majority control of the US Senate on Jan. 3, lawmakers chose Lummis to chair the chamber’s subcommittee on digital assets. In the House of Representatives, Wisconsin Representative Bryan Steil will chair the subcommittee on crypto, fintech and AI under the Financial Services Committee.
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This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
