Skip to content
- Coinbase pressed the SEC in court after unanswered FOIA requests on crypto policy.
- An inspector general report revealed the destruction of key SEC text records.
- The case raises urgent concerns about transparency and accountability in federal oversight.
Coinbase, working through History Associates, filed Freedom of Information Act requests in mid-2023 to uncover how the Securities and Exchange Commission shaped its views on digital assets.
The firm looked for clarity on how the agency regulated securities laws in cryptocurrencies, like Ether. When the SEC responded with blanket denials, Coinbase approached the federal court in June 2024. The agency stated that responding to the requests would take years.
The court did not concur with that postponement and instructed the SEC to focus on some records. The Coinbase case requested messages from the former Chairman Gary Gensler and some senior officials. Those messages could have provided insights into how the SEC addressed the legal status of Ethereum and other tokens.
Widespread Risks Found in SEC Communication Backups
The controversy changed on September 3, 2025, when a report came out by the Office of Inspector General at the SEC. The report revealed that in September 2023, the SEC erased nearly a year-long block of text messages for then-Chair Gensler. The erasures took place at around the same time that the crypto industry was experiencing massive enforcement activity and when FTX was crumbling.
The agency attributed the loss to a fixed purge policy for removing devices that got out of range with its network. The purge removed messages from October 2022 through September 2023, a period that would likely have included messages about plans for enforcement. Attempts to recover the texts were futile.
The report also included risks outside the phone that was handled by Gensler. Communications from more than two dozen other officials may already be lost. The inspector general warned that records for about another forty senior staff devices are at risk for lack of proper backups. Most of those texts are records on a legal level.
Coinbase Challenges SEC on Record Deletions
The revelations make it harder for the SEC to defend itself in court. The agency never informed the court or History Associates that records were deleted, and that the deletions occurred while FOIA requests were being handled. The SEC acknowledged only this year that it started restricted text searches in April and June 2025. The important records were already lost by then.
The agency, according to Coinbase, breached obligations under FOIA and ignored court orders. The case presents a striking inconsistency between the SEC’s external enforcement policy and internal records management. The SEC has fined companies billions for a failure to keep business records and yet lost its own.
The court may now weigh penalties, further searches, or broader discovery to uncover what is still hidden. The purging of senior officials’ messages could leave gaps in the public history of the evolution of federal regulators’ crypto policy at a crucial time.
Related Reading: Bitcoin Treasury Fund Launches in Asia as Sora Ventures Targets $1B
