Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, has asked the U.S. District Court to review a crucial legal question raised by the SEC in their ongoing lawsuit. The question, according to Coinbase, is "unencumbered by factual disputes and therefore ripe for immediate review."

The question revolves around whether an investment contract needs "something contractual." Coinbase argues that it does, while the SEC disagrees. This disagreement is at the heart of the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase, which alleges that the exchange operates as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, explained that the SEC asserts that Coinbase's crypto transactions are investment contracts "despite an absence of any alleged contractual undertakings." If the court agrees with Coinbase on this question, it could significantly impact the ongoing case and potentially dispose of the SEC's principal claims.

Grewal emphasized the importance of this issue for the wider crypto industry, stating that the SEC's action against Coinbase and other digital asset companies goes beyond their legal authority and puts a cloud over U.S. digital asset innovation.

This request for review comes just 17 days after the court denied Coinbase's motion to dismiss the SEC's case. Grewal justified the early appeal, stating that it is critical for the industry and that they aim to resolve the dispute over crypto transactions as soon as possible.

This request for review follows Coinbase's recent victory in a civil lawsuit where plaintiffs claimed that the exchange offered and sold them unregistered securities. On April 6, Cointelegraph reported that the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of Coinbase, confirming that secondary sales of cryptocurrencies on its platform do not violate the Securities Exchange Act.