Coinbase Says S.E.C. Will Drop Crypto Lawsuit

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said on Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission had agreed to drop its lawsuit against the company, lifting a legal cloud over the global crypto industry and signaling a broader retreat by federal regulators.

Coinbase, in a post on its website and in a regulatory filing, said it had reached an agreement in principle with the S.E.C. to have the lawsuit withdrawn without any financial penalty. If the S.E.C. confirms the proposed settlement, it would be a remarkable reversal by the agency after years of legal battles against crypto firms.

The S.E.C. sued Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto company, in 2023 on the grounds that the digital currencies sold on its platform constituted unregistered securities that put consumers at risk of financial harm.

Any settlement that results in a dismissal of the lawsuit would require S.E.C. approval. A spokesperson for the S.E.C. declined to comment on Coinbase’s announcement.

The lawsuit was the most significant of several that the S.E.C. had filed against major crypto companies, arguing that they were operating outside the law. A victory for the government could have threatened the continued operation of Coinbase, a publicly traded company worth about $65 billion, and decimated the broader crypto market.

The dismissal would be biggest victory for the crypto industry since President Trump took office last month, promising to end the Biden administration’s regulatory crackdown on crypto under the previous S.E.C. chair, Gary Gensler. And it illustrates the growing influence in Washington of billionaire technology executives, who wrote enormous checks to support Mr. Trump’s campaign, hoping to secure softer regulation.