PANews reported on May 16 that according to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Coinbase falsely reported user data before its IPO in 2021. The SEC focused on the "100 million verified users" indicator claimed by the exchange in its direct listing registration documents, which was quietly deactivated two years later. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal responded that this was an investigation left over from the previous administration, and the relevant indicators had been deactivated and fully disclosed two and a half years ago.
In 2023, Coinbase stated in its securities filing that it would use "monthly trading users" instead of "verified users", saying that the latter included inactive users who only verified their email or phone number and could not truly reflect business performance. However, in 2022, CEO Brian Armstrong still publicly claimed that the platform had 103 million verified users, emphasizing its position as the largest crypto trading platform in the United States. The investigation was launched during the Biden administration and continued during Trump's tenure. It is worth noting that the SEC recently withdrew its separate lawsuit against Coinbase for "operating a brokerage business without a license."
