A federal judge encouraged Coinbase to drop or at least significantly modify its requests for the personal communications of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, during a hearing Thursday. 😂

Judge Katherine Polk Failla said she found Coinbase's request against Gensler "really quite surprising." He stated that he still believed Coinbase's request was inappropriate, but asked that the exchange file a motion for action for formal action where it could provide more detailed arguments. 🤔

He took particular issue with Coinbase's request for documents from before Gensler's tenure as head of the regulator. Kevin Schwartz, an attorney representing Coinbase, said Gensler's communications are relevant to the case. But SEC senior trial attorney Jorge Tenreiro noted that Gensler's communications before he became the agency's chairman were not only not relevant to the case, but that the SEC chairman was neither a fact nor an expert witness and could create a troubling premise for future litigation. 😅

At the end of the hearing, the judge told Schwartz that he had "strong views" about the value of Gensler's statements before he took over the federal agency and was still leaning on the SEC's view that the requests were improper. Still, the judge ordered the two sides to meet and work out a briefing schedule. 😎

Coinbase's request suggested that the SEC would rather have Coinbase file a request for action and run the process that way, rather than move to cancel the request.

So what do you think? What will be the outcome of this situation? I'm waiting for your comments! 😁👇#Coinbase#SEC #blockchain