Coinbase Secures Legal Victory Over SEC and FDIC

Coinbase has settled its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), marking a major victory for the exchange. According to reports, the SEC agreed to settle the lawsuit for $150,000 and also improve its record-keeping policies.

According to the exchange chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, who shared the development on X, this is one of the largest FOIA awards in the agency’s history.

SEC Claims Former Chair Text Messages Have Been Deleted

Coinbase initially requested that the SEC provide documents showing how the regulator interpreted securities law to apply to the crypto industry. This followed over 5 years of the SEC’s crackdown on crypto, with several enforcement actions under former chair Gary Gensler.

With the SEC refusing to provide the documents, the exchange sued the regulator in 2024, also demanding internal communications between Gensler and senior SEC officials.

However, the SEC claimed it had lost the text messages between Gensler and the senior officials during that period. The regulator claimed that this was due to an automatic process that deleted those messages, leading to the recent settlement.

Interestingly, Coinbase also filed a similar lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. around the same time. It had accused the FDIC of championing the Operation Chokepoint 2.0 campaign in 2023 that led to the debanking of several crypto firms.

According to Coinbase, its lawsuit revealed that the FDIC sent letters to around 20 banks in 2022 asking them to pause all crypto-related activity. Although the regulator denied this in 2023, the Coinbase FOIA action forced it to release the documents.

The exchange reached a settlement with the FDIC in February, though the terms were not disclosed.

SEC Crypto Policy Shift Continues After Gensler

The Securities and Exchange Commission shifted its digital-asset approach after Gensler left office.

The agency established a Crypto Task Force and dismissed its enforcement case against Coinbase in 2025. It also increased discussions with exchanges, issuers and blockchain developers.

However, Commissioner Hester Peirce said blockchain use does not remove securities-law obligations.

Peirce said some onchain lending products, vaults and tokenized instruments could remain securities. The regulator would assess products using their structure and economic characteristics.

That position showed that the agency’s policy shift had limits. It favored guidance and rulemaking but retained enforcement authority over securities activity.

CLARITY Act Still Faces Senate Negotiations

Coinbase continued supporting the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as Congress debated market-structure rules.

The House passed the legislation by a 294–134 vote on July 17, 2025. It reached the Senate Banking Committee in September 2025 but had not become law.

Senate negotiations advanced in July 2026 after lawmakers discussed ethics, stablecoin rewards and anti-money-laundering provisions.

The draft still required bipartisan backing to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. Disputes remained over ethics enforcement, decentralized finance and stablecoin incentives.

The Freedom of Information Act settlement gave Coinbase a transparency victory. It did not resolve the broader dispute over U.S. crypto oversight.