According to ChainCatcher, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reviewed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) decision to reject Coinbase’s petition for cryptocurrency regulatory rulemaking, questioning its reasons as being too limited.

In July 2022, Coinbase asked the SEC to propose and adopt regulatory rules for "securities offered and traded through digitally native methods," including clarifying which crypto assets are securities.

The SEC rejected the petition in late 2023, prompting Coinbase to ask the Court of Appeals to compel the SEC to respond. Judge Thomas Ambro said the SEC did not need to explain its reasons for the rejection in detail, but that substantive content should be included in the record. He called the SEC's rejection order "almost empty."

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer at Coinbase, said on social media that the SEC "refuses to provide a rationale for its simple dismissal, and instead uses its so-called authority to arbitrarily enforce laws against our industry."