A federal appeals court says the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission needs to better explain why it turned down a request from Coinbase to develop regulations to cover the booming crypto asset sector.

A federal appellate court on Monday ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to revisit its decision not to write new rules for when digital assets fall under its authority. Why it matters: The The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals firmly rebuked the agency,

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been put on blast by a federal appeals court, which has demanded the agency justify its decision to block Coinbase’s 2022 petition for clear crypto regulations.

The funds are the latest of dozens of Wall Street firms that have paid stiff penalties over the last few years to settle related charges. The SEC's investigative sweep, launched in 2021, has been a major initiative under outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler that has ensnared big banks and others.

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and Apollo Capital Management (NYSE:APO), agreed to pay a total of $63M to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into recordkeeping failures, the SEC said on Monday.