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– Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Coinbase Global, Inc. and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and docketed under 22-cv-04915, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired Coinbase securities between April 14, 2021 and July 26, 2022, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.
If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired Coinbase securities during the Class Period, you have until October 3, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.
Coinbase provides financial infrastructure and technology products and services for the cryptocurrency economy (or “cryptoeconomy”) in the U.S. and internationally. The Company purportedly offers the primary financial account in the cryptoeconomy for retailers, a marketplace with a pool of liquidity for transacting in crypto assets for institutions, and technology and services that enable ecosystem partners to build crypto-based applications and securely accept crypto assets as payment.
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Coinbase custodially held crypto assets on behalf of its customers, which assets Coinbase knew or recklessly disregarded could qualify as the property of a bankruptcy estate, making those assets potentially subject to bankruptcy proceedings in which Coinbase’s customers would be treated as the Company’s general unsecured creditors; (ii) Coinbase allowed Americans to trade digital assets that Coinbase knew or recklessly disregarded should have been registered as securities with the SEC; (iii) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company to a heightened risk of regulatory and governmental scrutiny and enforcement action; and (iv) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On May 10, 2022, in its quarterly report for the first quarter of 2022, released after the markets closed, Coinbase disclosed that: “[B]ecause custodially held crypto assets may be considered to be the property of a bankruptcy estate, in the event of a bankruptcy, the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings and such customers could be treated as our general unsecured creditors.”
Following this disclosure, the price of Coinbase’s Class A common stock fell $19.27 per share, or 26.4%, to close at $53.72 per share on May 11, 2022.
In a subsequent tweet commenting on the disclosure, Coinbase’s Chief Executive Officer, Defendant Brian Armstrong, stated: “We should have updated our retail terms sooner, and we didn’t communicate proactively when this risk disclosure was added. My deepest apologies, and a good learning moment for us as we make future changes.”
On May 12, 2022, Professor Adam J. Levitin, a professor of law, at Georgetown University Law Center, published a draft of an article entitled “Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins: Unpriced Credit Risk in Cryptocurrency,” set to appear in the Texas Law Review, which argues that in the event a cryptocurrency exchange files for bankruptcy, bankruptcy courts are likely to deem custodial holdings of cryptocurrencies to be property of the bankrupt exchange, rather than the property of its customers.
Then, on July 25, 2022, after the markets closed, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase is facing an SEC probe into whether it improperly let Americans trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities.
On this news, the price of Coinbase’s Class A common stock fell $14.14 per share, or 21.08%, to close at $52.93 per share on July 26, 2022.
Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
rswilloughby@pomlaw.com
888-476-6529 ext. 7980
