Coinbase Falls 6% as it Shelves Plan to Launch Crypto Lending Business  

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Investing.com – Coinbase stock (NASDAQ:COIN) recouped some losses but still traded 6% lower Monday after the platform succumbed to pressure from regulators and dropped plans to launch a crypto lending business.

The company announced its decision in a blog post Friday.

In a communication to the crypto platform, the Securities and Exchange Commission had threatened to sue the company if it went ahead with its plans to let users earn interest by lending crypto assets.

This came to light when early this month, the crypto exchange’s Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong, took on the markets regulator publicly.

“If you don’t want this activity, then simply publish your position, in writing, and enforce it evenly across the industry,” Armstrong tweeted on September 8 while pointing out that plenty of other crypto companies continue to offer the lending feature.

He lamented that the regulator has failed to provide any guidance on the products even as it threatens to take it to court.

The slump in cryptos today added to the weakness in Coinbase. Bitcoin (BitfinexUSD), the largest crypto by market cap, fell more than 7% to trade just above $44,000, recouping some of the losses after it fell to 42,547.1 earlier in the day.