Coinbase has urged the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to lift a restriction that bars Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff from owning or transacting in cryptocurrencies. Coinbase has argued that hands-on experience is important for informed regulation.
Coinbase: SEC Staff Trading Important for Hands-on Crypto Experience
In a series of open letters shared publicly on April 25, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal urged OGE Acting Director Jamieson Greer and newly appointed SEC Chair Paul Atkins to rescind Legal Advisory 22-04, a rule issued in July 2022. The advisory prohibits SEC personnel from holding cryptocurrencies or stablecoins on the grounds that they are not classified as “publicly traded securities” and therefore fall outside existing exceptions.
“To regulate technology, you need to understand it. To understand technology, you need to use it,” Grewal wrote, arguing that barring SEC employees from using crypto undermines their ability to develop sound regulatory policy.
Grewal further highlighted that this limitation is especially problematic as the SEC is set to make key recommendations on crypto regulation under an order issued by President Donald Trump. These recommendations are reportedly due within the next 90 days. In spite of being central to that process, SEC staff are still restricted from using the very technology they are tasked with controlling.
In a separate letter addressed to SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Chair Atkins, Grewal described the policy as a direct impediment to the agency’s Crypto Task Force. He called on the SEC to take interim action by issuing waivers for staff involved in crypto regulatory work.
“Providing targeted waivers for Crypto Task Force members and other directly involved personnel would align with steps taken in comparable advisory scenarios,” Grewal argued, adding that such a move would allow those staffers to evaluate the underlying digital asset technology” firsthand.
The appeal comes in after a prolonged period of strict crypto regulations that was championed by former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took office in 2021. Gensler was known to lead an aggressive crackdown on the crypto industry and resigned in January 2025. During his tenure, the SEC initiated over 100 enforcement actions against crypto firms.
Soon after Gensler’s departure, the SEC began walking back several high-profile cases. In February, it ended investigations into Kraken, Binance, Robinhood, Coinbase, and several others.
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