Cryptocurrency is just another version of Beanie Babies, a Coinbase lawyer said in court to argue against classifying the currency as a security. The lawyer said cryptocurrencies are more like collectibles than actual shares in a company.
“This is the difference between buying Beanie Babies Inc. and buying Beanie Babies,” said William Savitt, a lawyer for Coinbase, according to Bloomberg.
Savitt compared cryptocurrencies to luxury collectible items in a New York federal court when he asked for the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to be dismissed in June 2023.
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According to Bloomberg, Savitt told U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla that currency differs from securities because those who buy them do not have any stake in the companies to which they belong, as they do if they buy stocks or bonds.
Legal experts say it could take two to six weeks for a decision on the case, according to Fox Business.
This is not the first time Coinbase has compared cryptocurrencies to Beanie Babies.
“It’s like selling a piece of land, the value of which may fluctuate after the sale. Or an apartment in a new development. Or an American Girl doll, or a beanie, or a baseball card,” Coinbase’s lawyers said. In an application I submitted in August 2023.
The motion also points to a judge’s ruling that Ripple Labs’ XRP cryptocurrency is not safe.
Why did the SEC file a lawsuit?
The SEC filed the lawsuit because Coinbase was “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency,” according to a statement from the SEC. It states that the commission also charged Coinbase with “failing to register the offer and sale of crypto asset storage software as a service.”
