PANews June 27 news, according to Blockworks, Coinbase announced on Thursday that it was filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for failing to obtain authorization for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In 2023, Coinbase hired consulting firm History Associates Incorporated to assist in obtaining records from the two agencies, but the requests were rejected. History Associates then filed a lawsuit on behalf of Coinbase, demanding that the SEC and FDIC hand over relevant documents.
In the lawsuit, History Associates is the plaintiff and Coinbase participates as a related party. Previously, History Associates submitted a FOIA request to the SEC on behalf of Coinbase, requesting documents about the SEC's views on the "status of Ethereum and ETH." However, the SEC rejected the request in October 2023, saying that it could not find or identify the relevant information. Although after History Associates appealed, the SEC admitted that the documents did exist, but stated that they were protected by exemption rules. Coinbase and History Associates believe that the exemption clause does not apply and ask the court to order the SEC to disclose the documents. At the same time, they also sought investigative documents related to Enigma MPC and Etherdelta founder Zachary Coburn in another FOIA request, which was also rejected. Both parties received cease and desist orders for alleged violations of securities laws.
The lawsuit emphasizes that the SEC’s refusal to provide documents from an investigation that ended in a settlement many years ago actually hindered Coinbase’s legitimate purpose of understanding the SEC’s legal opinion on enforcement actions against the digital asset industry, in violation of its FOIA obligations.
