NEW YORK, July 26 ― Coinbase Global Inc is facing a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe into whether it improperly let Americans trade digital assets that should have been registered as securities, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

The probe by the SEC's enforcement unit predates the agency's investigation into an alleged insider trading scheme that was revealed last week, as per the report.

US prosecutors in Manhattan last week charged a former product manager at Coinbase and two others with wire fraud in the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency.

The SEC's scrutiny of Coinbase has increased since the platform expanded the number of tokens in which it offers trading, the report added, citing two sources.

Coinbase and the SEC did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. ― Reuters