At the end of the day, the SEC is bought and paid for by the banks. They are essentially an HR department for banking execs. E.g. How many bank execs went to prison after the great recession? And where were the "Howey test" type threats from the SEC when it was actually needed?

Coinbase offering interest bearing assets is taking business away from the banks. Hence, the SEC will be used as guard dogs by the banks to at the very least slow them down.