Thomas Daniels
Coinbase has filed a legal motion seeking judicial intervention and potential remedies after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) failed to comply with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, specifically those involving missing communications from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The motion, filed on Thursday, calls for a court hearing to address findings from the SEC’s Office of Inspector General, which revealed that the agency had deleted nearly a year’s worth of text messages from Gensler and other senior officials. The report attributed the loss to “avoidable” internal errors.
Coinbase alleges that the SEC did not conduct a full and proper search of agency records in response to FOIA requests submitted in 2023 and 2024. These requests included communications concerning Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus model, among other high-profile regulatory matters.
The company is requesting that the court compel the SEC to locate and produce all responsive documents and communications previously requested. Coinbase further proposes that an additional hearing be held after the production and review of these materials to determine if further remedial measures—such as the awarding of attorney’s fees—are warranted. The motion also raises the possibility of findings that could trigger a Special Counsel investigation.
In response, SEC representatives reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to transparency, emphasizing that current leadership had initiated internal reviews to determine the root causes of the deletions and to implement preventative safeguards.
The missing messages span from October 2022 to September 2023, a critical period for regulatory developments in the digital asset space. The deletions came to light amid ongoing litigation between the SEC and Coinbase, with the regulator having filed suit in 2023 alleging the company operated as an unregistered securities broker.
Coinbase has argued that the deleted communications, particularly those from Gensler, may be pivotal to its legal defense and represent a broader concern regarding regulatory accountability in the digital asset sector.
