On Monday, the agency informed Failla, opens new tab that U.S. District Judge Tana Lin of Seattle concluded in the Coinbase insider trading case that the tokens allegedly purchased with insider info were indeed investment contracts, even though defendant Sameer Ramani traded the assets on a secondary exchange and not directly with issuers. (Ramani, who has allegedly fled the country, did not appear in the SEC proceeding, which also named former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi and his brother Nikhil Wahi as defendants.) As the SEC told Failla in Monday's letter, Coinbase was among the amici that filed briefs in the Seattle case arguing that exchange-traded tokens are not securities. The agency said Lin's ruling to the contrary was particularly notable in light of those amicus arguments, including by Coinbase.