A recently filed class-action lawsuit claims that Coinbase has violated US securities laws. The complaint, submitted to the San Francisco division of the Northern District of California on Friday, alleges that the prominent US crypto exchange has been operating as part of an illicit crypto network that operates outside of legal boundaries. The lawsuit asserts that Coinbase’s entire business model is based on deceit, with the company falsely claiming that it does not sell securities. The complaint further argues that Coinbase knowingly and intentionally violated state securities laws from the beginning of its operations.

The plaintiffs accuse Coinbase of offering multiple unregistered “digital asset securities,” including various blockchain projects such as Solana (SOL), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Algorand (ALGO), Stellar (XLM), and Tezos (XTZ). Additionally, Coinbase is accused of offering the blockchain scaling solution Polygon (MATIC), the decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI), and the Ethereum (ETH)-based virtual reality platform Decentraland (MANA).

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, accusing the exchange of violating securities laws. Coinbase has argued that trading digital assets does not meet the criteria of an “investment contract” under the Howey Test, a legal assessment developed by the Supreme Court over 90 years ago to determine whether assets should be classified as securities.