The largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the United States, Coinbase, was sued by the SEC on Tuesday, setting up a conflict that may determine the direction of the $1 trillion digital asset market in the future.

The SEC charged Coinbase with making billions of dollars while illegally operating a national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency, among other things, less than 24 hours after filing more than a dozen accusations against Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. In the US, the lawsuit was brought. The Southern District of New York’s district court.

Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC Enforcement Division, said in a statement that you “simply can’t ignore the rules because you don’t like them or because you’d prefer different ones.” The ramifications for the investing public are too severe.

The latest enforcement action taken by the SEC after FTX’s collapse seven months ago has been taken against Binance and Coinbase by SEC Chair Gary Gensler. This crackdown has alarmed investors and prompted some executives to search for fresh opportunities abroad. But it’s anticipated that the long-awaited lawsuit against Coinbase will spark the largest fight yet over the poorly regulated U.S. cryptocurrency market.

If the SEC prevails, the broad authority it has asserted over cryptocurrencies—and that the courts have backed so far—stands to be confirmed in a news-grabbing case. Although the Wall Street regulator’s case may pose an existential threat to Coinbase’s operations, the company has made it plain that it will defend the SEC’s lawsuit to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer of Coinbase, slammed the SEC for focusing solely on enforcement when dealing with cryptocurrencies and asked for “legislation that allows fair rules for the road.” He said that Coinbase intends to carry on with business as usual.

“The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement-only approach in the absence of clear rules for the digital asset industry is hurting America’s economic competitiveness and companies like Coinbase that have demonstrated commitment to compliance,” Grewal stated in a statement.

The cryptocurrency sector is pressing lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass legislation that would reduce the SEC’s influence in the cryptocurrency market. On Tuesday, Grewal is scheduled to give testimony before the House Agriculture Committee about a crypto bill that the GOP recently presented.

With a history dating back over a decade, Coinbase has long positioned itself as the unique cryptocurrency business that supports regulation. The company has a few state and federal permits that have aided in its expansion over the years, and it has what it calls a “robust listing process” in place to assess whether coins might violate U.S. securities regulations.

The SEC, however, referred to the company’s statements that it wanted to abide by US law as “lip service.”

Immediately following the filing of the Coinbase charges, Gensler appeared on CNBC and stated that the inability of cryptocurrency exchanges to adhere to U.S. securities regulations “undermines our overall capital markets.

“One sector is kind of running around like the Wild West — ‘catch us if you can,'” he claimed, adding that this erodes confidence in the $100 trillion financial markets. He claimed that financial organizations like the New York Stock Exchange would be “aghast” if they started operating hedge funds that competed with investors on their platform.

The SEC listed a total of 13 cryptocurrency assets that are available on Coinbase and are traded there that it feels should be treated like stocks and bonds but are still unregistered. The organization also claimed that Coinbase ought to have registered its staking program, which allowed users to make money by staking their cryptocurrency tokens.

The majority of crypto assets were criticized for their utility by Gensler, an aggressive regulator who oversaw the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under the Obama administration.

“More digital money is not necessary. We already have electronic money. It is known as the US dollar. It is known as the euro. It is known as the yen. Right now, they are all digital. We’ve already made investments in the internet, he remarked.

So what does the true underlying value of these tokens consist of? He said, ” You require fair and accurate disclosures because of this.