There's a line of critique that says it's unfair for the government to have allowed Coinbase to break the law for so long, and then change their mind.

But in the American system, the burden of proof is on the government (SEC) to prove the behavior is actually illegal and until then, Coinbase was presumed innocent and had the freedom to continue doing what they want.

What's frustrating for crypto advocates is they were unable to use the 5yr analysis period to convince society to legalize their behavior (in the way that Uber/Lyft were able).

But this is one of the things the American system gets very right. A "trial" period where new behavior is allowed until the Executive branch can either prove its illegal, or Legislative branch can explicitly make it legal. It's an expensive system that achieves a balance between regulation and experimentation.