Oregon Follows Gensler’s Lead with Lawsuit Against Coinbase

Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, has filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, alleging violations of securities laws.

Today the Oregon Attorney General is resurrecting the dead by bringing a copycat case of @SECGov‘s enforcement action against Coinbase. As a reminder, the SEC dismissed that case with prejudice. This type of political jockeying is an embarrassing waste of Oregon taxpayer…

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) April 18, 2025

The authorities accuse the platform of promoting and facilitating the sale of unregistered securities. 

According to Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, officials from the SEC have indicated that they are “continuing from where Gary Gensler left off.” 

“Having gained the trust of consumers in Oregon, Coinbase sold high-risk investments without proper scrutiny. Oregonians lost money, and we believe Coinbase should be held accountable and take measures to protect consumers,” stated Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.

Grewal noted that the Attorney General’s lawsuit employs “outdated, repeatedly debunked theories” that the Commission itself abandoned when closing the case against the exchange: 

“These arguments are years out of date and contradict public opinion, technological progress, and good governance.”

According to the lawyer, the lawsuit “harms the constructive development of legislation” in Washington. He emphasized that the initiative to adopt federal crypto regulations in the U.S. now has more support than ever, but Oregon has “decided to engage in global regulation through enforcement” instead of waiting for Congress to implement rules.

Grewal added that Coinbase “will do everything possible” to win the case, and the exchange’s clients are not at risk.

Back in March, the exchange revisited the idea of launching tokenized securities trading in the U.S.