Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has sued Coinbase (COIN), accusing the crypto exchange of promoting and selling unregistered securities in violation of state law.
The lawsuit echoes allegations previously brought by the SEC.
Filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on April 18, the complaint claims Coinbase “reaped millions of dollars in fees as Oregonians faced huge, often devastating losses from risky investments in a market that’s stacked against them and hard to navigate.”
“After building trust with Oregon consumers, Coinbase sold high-risk investments without them being properly vetted to protect consumers,” Rayfield said in a statement.
“Oregonians lost money, and we believe Coinbase should be held accountable and take steps to protect consumers.”
Rayfield’s complaint names 31 tokens he says violate Oregon’s securities laws — a significantly longer list than what the SEC included in its federal lawsuit against the company.
State crackdown fills federal void after Trump-appointed SEC drops case
The federal case, brought under former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, had charged Coinbase with selling unregistered securities and failing to properly register its crypto staking program.
But in February, the SEC dropped the suit following a shift in regulatory tone under the Trump administration, which has signaled strong support for the crypto industry.
“While dismissal will be a major win for the rule of law — and a clear vindication of our position — most of all it will be a win for the entire industry and the 52 million Americans who have owned a digital asset,” Coinbase legal chief Paul Grewal said at the time in a statement.
President Trump has since doubled down on pro-crypto messaging, hosting the first-ever Crypto Summit at the White House in March and promising to make the U.S. "the bitcoin superpower of the world."
The SEC also dismissed its lawsuit against Robinhood’s crypto unit earlier this year.
Rayfield, in his announcement, pointed to the SEC’s retreat as justification for state-level action.
“States must fill the enforcement vacuum being left by federal regulators who are giving up under the new administration and abandoning these important cases,” he said.
Coinbase fires back, calls lawsuit 'misguided'
Coinbase has dismissed the new suit as a “copycat case” that simply picks up where Gensler left off.
“As a reminder, the SEC dismissed that case with prejudice,” Grewal said in a post on X. “This type of political jockeying is an embarrassing waste of Oregon taxpayer dollars.”
He added that the lawsuit is “exactly the opposite of what Americans should be focused on right now.”
“We’ve never been closer to bipartisan legislation for digital assets,” he said. “This backward lawsuit does nothing to protect consumers or solidify American leadership.”
Shares of Coinbase were up 8.6% in midday trading on Thursday. The stock is down 22.7% year-to-date.
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