It's quite an embarrassing climbdown for the exchange, which had launched a high-profile attack on the regulator.
Coinbase has quietly announced that it is abandoning plans to launch a new lending product for digital assets.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had threatened the trading platform with legal action if it made the service available, which would have allowed users to earn 4% interest on USD Coin.
At first, Coinbase had gone on the offensive — accusing the SEC of “sketchy” behavior and claiming it had gone to great lengths to cooperate.
But in a new statement, the exchange said it had made the “difficult decision” to abandon Lend as it continues to seek clarity from regulators.
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A Low-Key Change of Plan
Rather than produce a brand-new blog post about the U-turn, Coinbase updated an announcement that was first issued in June. It said:
“Our goal is to create great products for our customers and to advance our mission to increase economic freedom in the world … We have also discontinued the waitlist for this program as we turn our work to what comes next. We had hundreds of thousands of customers from across the country sign up and we want to thank you all for your interest. We will not stop looking for ways to bring innovative, trusted programs and products to our customers.”
