Quis Custodiet (reprised)?

So COIN had its stock nominated for the S&P500, cue massive bull run (+25%) in a matter of days but then it transpired a quasi inside job led to a complete cluster mess with a hack which might not be fatal but is really deeply embarrassing as well as costly to both the bottom line and the ongoing brand of COIN (which let it not be forgotten has not been without previous regulatory transgressions). Thus a medley of meeja including from the firm itself:

Protecting Our Customers - Standing Up To Extortionists
Coinbase
Coinbase Says It Strongly Believes US SEC Investigation Should Not Continue
Reuters
Market Reaction To Coinbase Hack 'Overblown,' Say Analysts As SEC Probe Sinks COIN
CoinDesk
Coinbase Confirms User Metric Investigation, Says It's Working With Trump's SEC To Resolve
CNBC
SEC Investigating Whether Coinbase Misstated Its User Numbers
The New York Times
Coinbase Hack Nightmare: $20 Million Bitcoin Ransom For Sensitive Customer Data
99Bitcoins
Leading Crypto Firm Coinbase Faces Up To $400m Hit From Cyber Attack
BBC
Coinbase Got Hacked A Little
Bloomberg
Coinbase Fires Compromised Agents In India — Report
Cointelegraph

The interesting bit is that we see emphasis on “Trump SEC” which suggests a lot of folks reckon it’s a captive agency to the crypto bros. This is also BTW a concern for the CFTC where a16z Policy Head Brian Quintenz awaits CFTC Chairmanship confirmation (and we will see the - possibly imminent - exit of La Pham fatale). Frankly if COIN can’t run their systems securely, the ration ought to be on the snowball - hades survival ratio if it’s had systemic failures …even if I have some sympathy…EVEN with the perma-arrogant COIN entity in being let down by their IT folks BUT, they need to play by the big boy rules and not just the crypto bro ‘whatever’ approach.

BTW with the incoming CFTC appointment of Chairman Quintenz (as anticipated he will be confirmed soon) the CFTC will see a near total clearance as Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero gave a farewell speech last Friday and expects to be gone by the end of the month, leaving a sole Commissioner, Democrat Kristin N. Johnson.