Today in crypto, a new lawsuit against Coinbase from Oregon’s attorney general refers to XRP and other digital assets as unregistered securities, Paul Atkins has been officially sworn in as US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chief, taking over from acting chair Mark Uyeda, and new filings reveal crypto companies among donors to US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s lawsuit against Coinbase argues that XRP and other digital assets are unregistered securities.

Rayield sued US-based, publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly violating Oregon’s securities law. In an April 18 announcement, the Oregon Department of Justice said the suit was part of an effort to fill what it described as a regulatory vacuum left by federal agencies under the Trump administration:

“States must fill enforcement vacuum being left by federal regulators who are abandoning these cases under Trump administration,“ the department said.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal voiced his frustration over the lawsuit in an April 21 X post. Justin Slaughter, the vice president of regulatory affairs at crypto investment firm Paradigm, pointed out that the lawsuit claims a long list of digital assets, including XRP (XRP), are unregistered securities.

Source: Paul Grewal

Yarden Noy, partner at crypto legal firm DLT Law, told Cointelegraph that if the court ruled these assets are securities, it “would mostly create more confusion in this regard.” It would not be a binding precedent in other cases, not even within Oregon, he added.

Paul Atkins has officially been sworn in as the 34th chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The April 21 announcement comes nearly two weeks after Atkins’ position was confirmed by the US Senate in a 52-44 vote on April 9.

Source: US House Committee on Financial Services Republicans

“I am honored by the trust and confidence President Trump and the Senate have placed in me to lead the SEC,” said Atkins, who served as an SEC commissioner between 2002 and 2008.

Atkins is widely expected to lead a more crypto-friendly SEC than former chair Gary Gensler under the Biden administration.

New filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) reveal that several cryptocurrency firms and their executives made significant contributions to US President Donald Trump’s inauguration fund after the results of the 2024 election. 

According to FEC filings made public on April 20 by the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams donated more than $245,000, Solana Labs donated $1 million, and software firm Consensys sent $100,000 in January to support the then-president-elect’s inauguration. Many major crypto firms had previously announced their support of Trump through donations to the inaugural fund, including Coinbase, Ripple Labs, Kraken, Ondo Finance, and Robinhood.

Altogether, the fund reported more than $239 million in net donations between Nov. 15 and April 20 from companies and individuals. These included $1 million from McDonald’s, $1 million from Meta, $1 million from Apple CEO Tim Cook, $1 million from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and various contributions from Delta Air Lines, ExxonMobil, FedEx, Nvidia, PayPal, Target, and Coca-Cola. 

Jan. 9 contribution from Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams to Trump-Vance inauguration fund. Source: FEC

Since Trump took office on Jan. 20 and appointed Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the agency has dropped multiple investigations and enforcement actions against crypto firms, including those that donated to the president’s 2024 campaign or inauguration fund. In February, Uniswap reported that the SEC had dropped its probe into the firm, and Consensys founder Joseph Lubin said the agency had agreed to end a separate lawsuit. 

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