Coinbase Sues SEC and FDIC for FOIA Noncompliance

Key takeaways:

• Coinbase sued the FDIC and the United States SEC on June 27.
• Coinbase claims that federal agencies are trying to keep the crypto business out of the banking sector.

Coinbase sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 27.

According to a FoxBusiness report, the cases claim that the FDIC and the SEC disregarded Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

In its case, Coinbase claims that federal agencies are trying to keep the crypto business out of the banking sector.

Information about the government agency’s perspective on Ethereum, particularly its transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, was sought in the FOIA requests directed toward the SEC.

Through its consulting company, History Associates Inc., Coinbase requested documents pertaining to Ethereum 2.0 and earlier inquiries regarding Zachary Coburn and Enigma MPC. As per the court filings, History Associates Inc. stated:

“For nearly two years, a wide array of federal financial regulators—including the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve Board — have used every regulatory tool at their disposal to try to cripple the digital-asset industry.”

According to Coinbase’s allegations, there is a larger attempt to weaken the crypto business through the regulatory steps taken against it.

The SEC and FDIC’s activities are characterized in the complaints as a coordinated attempt to cut off digital-asset firms from essential banking services. 

In the court filings, Coinbase describes how it views the SEC’s reluctance to provide documents from completed investigations:

“deliberate obstruction to understanding the legal framework behind the agency’s enforcement actions.”

This most recent lawsuit is part of what History Associates Inc. refers to as Coinbase’s continuous “conflict” with US regulators in the court filings. Coinbase’s top legal officer, Paul Grewal, said in an X post thread that:

“Financial regulators have used multiple tools at their disposal to try to cripple the digital-asset industry”

The legal documents state that while Coinbase pushes for more precise regulations, History Associate Inc. draws attention to the larger discussion about “how digital assets should be regulated” in the US.