Coinbase Spat With SEC Ups the Ante in Washington’s Crypto Fight

By now, people are used to unusual goings-on in cryptocurrency markets. But little could have prepared Wall Street for the spectacle of Sept. 8, when it awoke to find the head of a $50 billion digital-assets exchange bashing a powerful regulator in a 21-tweet tirade. There was Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., accusing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of “sketchy behavior” and “intimidation tactics” after it effectively blocked his company from rolling out a product that would let users earn 4% by lending their tokens. Finance Twitter spectators were agog—surely the leader of ...