Coinbase has settled its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with the agency agreeing to pay $150,000 and revise its record-retention policies, according to the exchange.

Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, disclosed the settlement on X, saying it was one of the largest FOIA awards in the SEC’s history. Grewal also said the securities regulator deleted a full year of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s communications during what Coinbase described as the peak of Gensler’s campaign against the crypto industry. The post was shared at https://x.com/iampaulgrewal/status/2079902214823505950?s=20.

The settlement marks a legal win for Coinbase in its effort to obtain records on how federal regulators applied securities laws and banking rules to the digital-asset sector. FOIA disputes can also carry broader significance for regulated industries because they test whether agencies preserved and produced records that explain how policy decisions were made.

SEC Said Gensler Text Messages Were Deleted

Coinbase initially sought SEC documents showing how the agency interpreted securities law as it applied to the crypto industry. The request followed more than five years of SEC scrutiny of crypto firms, including multiple enforcement actions under Gensler.

After the SEC declined to provide the requested documents, Coinbase sued the agency in 2024. The exchange also sought internal communications between Gensler and senior SEC officials.

The SEC later said it had lost text messages between Gensler and senior officials from the relevant period. According to the regulator, an automatic process deleted the messages. That record-retention issue became part of the dispute that led to the settlement.

Coinbase filed a similar FOIA lawsuit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. around the same period. The exchange accused the FDIC of supporting what critics have called Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a campaign Coinbase said contributed to the debanking of several crypto firms in 2023.

According to Coinbase, its FOIA lawsuit showed that the FDIC sent letters to around 20 banks in 2022 asking them to pause all crypto-related activity. The agency had denied the allegation in 2023, but Coinbase said its FOIA action forced the release of the documents.

Coinbase reached a settlement with the FDIC in February. The terms of that agreement were not disclosed.

SEC Crypto Policy Changed After Gensler

The SEC’s approach to digital assets shifted after Gensler left office. The agency created a Crypto Task Force and dismissed its enforcement case against Coinbase in 2025. It also increased engagement with exchanges, issuers and blockchain developers.

However, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce has said the use of blockchain technology does not eliminate securities-law obligations. Peirce said certain onchain lending products, vaults and tokenized instruments could still be securities.

The regulator would assess products based on their structure and economic characteristics, according to that view. The position indicated that the SEC’s policy shift had limits: the agency favored more guidance and rulemaking while retaining enforcement authority over activity that falls under securities law.

That distinction matters for crypto companies seeking clearer rules. A transparency settlement over agency records does not determine whether a token, lending product or other digital-asset activity is a security; those questions still depend on the facts and legal standards applied to each product.

CLARITY Act Remains Under Senate Review

Coinbase has continued to support the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as Congress considers market-structure rules for the crypto industry.

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

Senate negotiations continued in July 2026 after lawmakers discussed ethics provisions, stablecoin rewards and anti-money-laundering requirements. The draft still needed bipartisan support to meet the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Disputes remained over ethics enforcement, decentralized finance and stablecoin incentives. Coinbase’s FOIA settlement with the SEC delivered a transparency victory for the exchange, but it did not resolve the wider debate over U.S. crypto oversight.