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Coinbase has taken legal action after the SEC and FDIC denied information requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Through consultancy firm History Associates Inc, Coinbase has sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in a U.S. District of Colombia court. The lawsuit claims these agencies unfairly rejected FOIA solicitations.
The complaint accuses the agencies of blocking crypto-related policy clarity and violating FOIA obligations, which typically allow public access to records held by U.S. watchdogs.
In 2023, Coinbase employed History Associates to request documents related to the SEC’s approach to Ethereum and the classification of its native crypto, Ether (ETH). The firm also sought investigative information on cease-and-desist orders issued to Enigma MPC and Etherdelta founder Zachary Coburn.
Following an FDIC report last October that directed financial institutions to pause all operations related to crypto-assets, Coinbase petitioned the corporation to provide copies of the letters. These requests were denied multiple times, prompting Coinbase to seek court intervention.
According to Coinbase, both agencies, especially the SEC, have deliberately hindered the inclusion of cryptocurrency in the U.S. financial system.
“The SEC’s rationale for withholding documents from investigations that concluded in settlements years ago is tailor-made to frustrate the legitimate purposes for which Coinbase sought the Coburn and Enigma MPC documents in the first place—to understand the view of the law that underlies the SEC’s enforcement blitzkrieg against the digital asset industry.”
Financial regulators have used various tools to try to cripple the digital-asset industry. The SEC claims sweeping authority but refuses to provide clear or consistent rules. Meanwhile, the FDIC has pressured financial institutions to cut ties with crypto-related operations.
The complaints add to a growing list of accusations against the SEC for what Coinbase and other industry participants describe as a “regulation by enforcement” approach. SEC chair Gary Gensler has regularly scrutinized the digital asset landscape for fraud and non-compliance.
Currently, Coinbase is engaged with the SEC on three fronts seeking regulatory clarity. Last June, SEC attorneys sued Coinbase for allegedly facilitating unregistered securities trading and operating an illegal securities exchange. Additionally, the platform filed a rule-making petition in 2022 that has advanced to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
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