Coinbase is suing the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to force the regulators to hand over documents related to crypto investigations.
The cases, brought under the Freedom of Information Act, come amid Coinbase’s ongoing legal battle with the SEC, in which the regulator accused the crypto firm of operating an unregistered securities exchange.
The suits were brought by History Associates, a consultant tapped by Coinbase to request the records, in district court in Washington, D.C.
“Financial regulators have used multiple tools at their disposal to try to cripple the digital-asset industry,” Coinbase’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, posted Thursday on the social media site X. “[The SEC] has claimed sweeping authority, but refuses to provide any rules, let alone consistent or coherent ones. [Meanwhile, the FDIC] pressured financial institutions to cut off the industry from the banking system.”
Coinbase “asked the SEC for documents about closed investigations to shed light on how [it] views its newfound, sweeping (and unlawful) authority,” Grewal added. “One of those investigations, which only recently closed, focused on [Ethereum], which the SEC publicly announced is not a security in 2018. And the other investigations have been closed for years.”
The crypto firm wants to know how the SEC first began deciding which tokens would and would not be considered securities.
“We asked the FDIC for the letters they sent to financial institutions asking them to indefinitely ‘pause’ crypto-related activities, an action that the FDIC’s own Office of Inspector General criticized for creating a ‘risk that the FDIC would inadvertently limit financial institution innovation and growth in the crypto space,’” Grewal wrote.
Both agencies “stonewalled” Coinbase’s requests, he added.
Coinbase has accused the SEC, in particular, of “regulating by enforcement.” At least one SEC commissioner, Hester Peirce, has questioned the practice, too.
Coinbase wants the court to force the FDIC’s and SEC’s hand in producing the documents.
The SEC declined to comment on the lawsuits to Banking Dive. The FDIC did not return a request for comment.
