US SEC settles FOIA lawsuit with Coinbase over lost messages, WSJ op-ed says
The deal ends Coinbase’s FOIA suit and requires the regulator to change how it preserves official communications after a review found preventable errors.
- On Wednesday, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal announced that the cryptocurrency exchange settled its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with the agency agreeing to pay $150,000.
- Grewal wrote that the regulator lost text messages between former SEC Chair Gary Gensler and other officials, attributing the data loss to a process that "automatically wiped" certain information. The agency had failed to produce these records during litigation.
- A September 2025 review by the SEC Office of Inspector General found that avoidable errors, including a factory reset on Gensler's agency-issued iPhone on Sept. 6, 2023, caused the permanent deletion of messages. The report concluded timely backups could have prevented the loss.
- Coinbase had sought these documents to investigate how senior officials handled crypto regulatory and enforcement decisions. Grewal accused the former SEC leadership of violating public obligations by destroying materials it was required to preserve.
- Under President Donald Trump, the SEC dismissed a major enforcement case against Coinbase in February 2025 without requiring fines or business changes. The commission is now developing industry-friendly policies for tokenized securities and digital-asset products.
29 Articles
29 Articles
SEC Agrees to Pay $150,000 to End Coinbase Suit Over Records
Gary Gensler’s erased texts cost SEC $150K in Coinbase case
Coinbase has secured a $150,000 settlement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after the regulator lost nearly 11 months of former Chair Gary Gensler’s text messages. A Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal…
US SEC settles FOIA lawsuit with Coinbase over lost messages, WSJ op-ed says
Coinbase has settled a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over records it sought from the agency, the cryptocurrency exchange's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Claims Legal Battle Exposed Coordinated Anti-Crypto Debanking Campaign
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has hailed the cryptocurrency exchange’s legal battle against U.S. regulators as a landmark victory, claiming it uncovered what he described as a coordinated government campaign to restrict the crypto industry’s access to banking services. According to Armstrong, documents obtained through the lawsuits revealed behind-the-scenes efforts by federal agencies to pressure banks […] The post Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong C…
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