Armstrong was speaking in an interview with CNBC, a day
after the company was sued by the US securities regulator on allegations it
failed to register as an exchange.
"The SEC allowed us to become a public company ... so,
its not great to have a regulator come back and say, actually, we changed our
mind," Armstrong said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged
Coinbase traded at least 13 crypto assets that are securities that should have
been registered, including tokens such as Solana, Cardano and Polygon.
Coinbase shares rebounded on Wednesday to rise nearly 1
percent to $52.03.
The stock has declined about 20 percent since the SEC sued
Coinbase and rival Binance alleging securities law violations, wiping roughly
$3 billion from Coinbase's market value.
Short sellers have raked in roughly $463 million (nearly.
Rs. 3,800 crore) in paper profits betting against Coinbase over the past two
sessions, according to data from analytics firm Ortex.
Meanwhile, the US Securities and Exchange Commission have
accused the company of operating illegally because it failed to register as an
exchange. The lawsuit is the SEC's second in two days against a major crypto
exchange, following its case against Binance, the world's largest
cryptocurrency exchange, and founder Changpeng Zhao.
Crypto companies say the SEC rules are unclear, and that the
agency is overreaching by trying to regulate them. On the other hand, ten US
states led by California also on Tuesday accused Coinbase of securities law
violations concerning its staking rewards program. - Reuters