The US Securities and Exchange Commission will soon vote on an agreement negotiated with Coinbase to completely drop the agency’s legal persecution of Crypto Exchange, according to the company’s top lawyer.

While SEC has made movements almost daily to turn past positions on digital assets, the pending vote would mark a waters that could start a number of legal dominoes to free other crypto companies from enforcement measures. Because the agreement between Coinbase and SEC staff claims a dismissal of the case “with prejudice”, Coinbase’s chief of legal officer Paul Grewal said, the regulator’s accusations of securities violations would be permanently closed.

“It’s a great day for Coinbase, yes, but it’s also a fantastic day for crypto in America,” Grewal said in an interview with Coindesk. “We have all the expectations based on representations that have been made to us that this approval is coming and with that the dismissal will then be filed.”

He changed it in simpler terms: “We win; they are losing.”

And Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a video that was sent on Friday that “this is an important signal of where things are going.”

When SEC first went after the coinbase-the most prominent of the US-based crypto-platform-represented it a shot over the industry. SEC alleged Coinbase violated federal law by not registering as a clearing house, broker or trading site, based on the agency’s view of the so-called Howey test, which determines whether an asset is a security. The company chose to combat the accusations of the federal court, and the legal clash had been harsh, most recently a judge’s page with Coinbase’s efforts to raise an appeal of the central question on dispute: Are these tokens traded really securities under SEC’s jurisdiction?

The industry had long expected it to wait for the courts – eventually even the US Supreme Court – to rule on former SEC chairman Gary Gensler’s claim that most tokens are actually crypto ink papers. But the surrender of SEC in this dispute is likely to be repeated in other cases, which would put the final word about the legal definition in the hands of Congress.

So the Commission’s vote could throw the industry’s main focus on lobbying instead of legal krangel.

The enforcement meetings for SEC – currently consisting of acting chairman Mark Uyeda, Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce and Democracy Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw – typically take place on Thursdays, so the final decision on the staff’s recommendation can be delayed as long as a week. Crenshaw has been a vocal skeptic of the digital asset industry and its compliance, so it remains unclear whether she would be willing to sign the dismissal.

A SEC spokesman refused to comment on the agreement revealed by Coinbase.

SEK Allies

Uyeda and Peirce, who were appointed the leader of the agency’s new crypto -task force, had long been sympathy for the digital assets industry’s claim that it was abused by SEC. When Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he gave the agency’s gable to Uyeda on a preliminary basis, and Uyeda began making quick movements to move his course on crypto. This is the latest and – assuming that a yes vote – arguably the most significant of the changes so far.

Eventually, former commission takes over Paul Atkins after he secures a Senate confirmation. But Uyeda and Peirce both served Atkins as advice during his term in Sec, so Atkins is generally expected to follow the same path on crypto that Uyeda is already ready.

Earlier this week, the Agency moved its enforcement unit-when laser-focused on crypto transitions to a wider responsibility rather than “new technologies”, which suggests a withdrawal from the era with strong attention to crypto cases. It also fell its appeal in the struggle to defend its efforts to force a broad cut of crypto activity to its recent rule to expand the definition of what makes a “dealer” under SEC supervision.

In another Marquee -Crypto case -the regulator recently asked to hit the break on Binance Enforcement -Dist. These allegations of violation of securities overlapped to some extent with the complaint against Coinbase, although the Binance case also included allegations of fraud and conflicts of interest.

SEC had similarly signaled last week that something brewing with coinbase when it asked for a delay in litigation, which suggested that the negotiations were underway against a decision and signaled the agency’s new crypto -tag force would help the enforcement team to come up with a “potential decision”

“SEC’s unilateral surrender in his lawsuit against Coinbase is a historic mistake that brings out investors, markets and financial stability,” said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, a Washington-based lawyer group that regularly talks about crypto singer. “Sec used to enforce the law without fear or benefit, but now favors the crypto industry and fears billionaire crypto kingpins who publicly reduces the agency.”

The vote

In the coming days, lawyers throughout the industry will see SEC’s Coinbase voting and then the judge’s response in the US district court of the southern district of New York. If SEC formally supports the accusations Coinbase incorrectly stated unregistered securities, it will have to do the same in similar cases.

“I am hope that our case, which will be rejected, will offer a template to other cases that need to be resolved as well,” Grewal said. “And if that was the case, we would be happy because we felt that Gary Gensler’s entire campaign against crypto was a distortion – honestly, an abuse – of legal process.”

As the agency continues to resolve previous actions, it is signaled that the future intention is to focus on fraud over compliance. And Uyeda said as late as Thursday that SEC’s new task force will lead its enforcement.

“A focus of this task force will be to ensure that we implement enforcement resources with care,” he said at an event in Washington.

Grewal recognized that the next priority quickly becomes US legislation that can establish clear rules at the federal level. To this end, Coinbase has been among the leading cryptic companies covering the political arena and deployed tens of thousands of millions of dollars in the 2024 election (through Fairshake PAC) to secure a friendlier congress. One in 10 members of this congress was strengthened by Fairshake ads in their campaigns last year.

“We’ve seen Congress announce his commitment to legislation already in the first 100 days,” noted Grewal. “So we are very eager with this cloud, now lifted, to focus our full attention on getting legislation adopted on market structure and stableecoins. That is, honestly too long.”

Update (February 21, 2025, 13:11 UTC): Adding request to SEC on comment.

Update (February 21, 2025, 15:06 UTC): Adds answers from sec.

Update (February 21, 2025, 15:51 UTC): Adds comment from Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets.

Update (February 21, 2025, 15:55 UTC): Adds quote and link to CEO Brian Armstrong’s video.