A group of six legal scholars specializing in securities law and related fields submitted an amicus brief in favor of crypto exchange Coinbase<\/a> in\u00a0its ongoing legal battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).<\/p>\n An amicus brief is a document filed in court by a party not directly involved with the related case. It is generally used to add supporting arguments to one side of the lawsuit and emphasizes how the case will have a broader impact beyond the involved parties.<\/p>\n The group of legal scholars\u00a0filed<\/a>\u00a0the amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Aug. 11.<\/p>\n On the same day, Senator Cynthia Lummis also\u00a0submitted an amicus brief<\/a>\u00a0in support of the crypto exchange.<\/p>\n The scholars behind the filing are Stephen Bainbridge of the University of California, Los Angeles; Tamar Frankel of Boston University School of Law; Sean Griffith of Fordham University School of Law; Lawrence Hamermesh of Widener University, Delaware Law School; Matthew Henderson of the University of Chicago Law School; and Jonathan Macey from Yale Law School.<\/p>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>SEC punts on ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF, opens proposal to comments<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n In their filing, the legal scholars contended that federal precedents and the Howey test acknowledge that investment contracts necessitate anticipation of business income, profits or assets. The group has asked the court to adhere to the established legal definition of \u201cinvestment contract\u201d when interpreting its scope:<\/p>\n \u201cAn investor must be promised, by virtue of his or her investment, an ongoing contractual interest in the income, profits, or assets of the enterprise. In this section, we discuss some of these cases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The legal scholars clarified that their affiliations with universities or law schools are irrelevant to their involvement with the amicus brief.<\/p>\n Magazine: <\/em><\/strong>Crypto regulation: Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2023-08\/3bfd8c23-3a7c-40f8-9f8e-5db626c91c9d.JPG\" "\\"\\"")