SEC Pays $150K in Coinbase FOIA Settlement, Releases Withheld Records
In brief
- SEC pays $150,000 and releases two withheld documents in Coinbase FOIA settlement
- Settlement requires SEC to review records and text-message preservation policies
- Case closed without judicial review of SEC conduct or public admission of wrongdoing
The Settlement Terms
History Associates, working with Coinbase, filed the lawsuit on June 27, 2024. The case closed with a deal before a judge ever weighed the SEC's conduct. The public record includes no admission of wrongdoing from the agency.
The SEC must also release two documents it previously withheld and review its records and text-message preservation. What those documents contain and when they must be released have not been publicly established.
Background: The Missing Records
The settlement arrives after months of scrutiny over SEC record-keeping practices. In September 2025, the SEC's inspector general found that avoidable device-management errors caused the loss of former Chair Gary Gensler's texts from October 18, 2022, through September 6, 2023. The watchdog said the missing messages likely included federal records.
That finding prompted the lawsuit. Coinbase and its legal partners sought to force disclosure of documents the SEC had kept from public view, citing the Freedom of Information Act.
What Comes Next
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal called the outcome a win for transparency. Reuters described the commitment as fixing records-retention policies, while Law360 reported that the agency would share its document-retention policies.
The settlement doesn't resolve the broader question of what the SEC withheld or why. It does signal that the agency will face greater scrutiny on records management going forward.
