Court rules in favor of the SEC

A new twist in the legal dispute between Coinbase and the SEC. A court has now ruled in favor of the U.S. authority's lawsuit. The case will go to trial.

The legal dispute between the SEC and Coinbase enters the next round.

Last summer, the American Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the exchange.

This was mostly about the company's business model. The SEC accuses Coinbase of to act as an unlicensed stock exchange, broker and clearinghouse, thereby endangering investors.

Coinbase itself had insisted on dismissing the lawsuit - unsuccessfully.

The court has now partially ruled in favor of the SEC and denied Coinbase's request.

"The court concludes that the SEC's allegations that Coinbase is an unregistered securities trading platform are sufficiently plausible," according to the verdict.

The exchange's staking program was the main reason for the court's ruling, it continued.

On the other hand, the court ruled that the Coinbase wallet was not an unauthorized operation of a stockbroker.

The trial will continue on April 19.

Following the announcement of the ruling, the crypto company's share price plummeted. The stock is currently trading 5.2 percent lower.