John Reed Stark, a former SEC official, believes that the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase could be stillborn as the regulator's newly formed cryptocurrency task force seeks to resolve previous enforcement actions against the exchange. In a post on X on Feb. 17, Stark explained why the SEC asked for a 28-day extension to respond to Coinbase's petition for permission to appeal. It stated: "The SEC's review of cryptocurrency-related issues is" ongoing "under the unprecedented 3-page joint motion, and the extension will give the SEC time to conduct a" proper review "as it prepares its response to Coinbase's petition. In other words, the SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase may be over." Mr. Stark estimated the same outcome for the SEC's case against Binance, citing a joint motion filed on February 11 in which the two sides argued that the SEC's cryptocurrency task force "may influence and facilitate the potential resolution of this case". The same goes for Ripple, which has been mired in litigation with the SEC since 2020, and "expects all cryptocurrency-related appeals, including those in the Ripple case, to be suspended or even more likely withdrawn entirely."