Key facts
- The SEC will pay Coinbase $150,000 as part of a settlement for a FOIA lawsuit.
- The lawsuit arose after the SEC admitted to destroying text messages from former Chair Gary Gensler.
- The settlement includes reforms to the SEC's record-retention policies.
- Coinbase's chief legal officer Paul Grewal stated the SEC will pay a $150,000 'award' and has fixed its record retention policies.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to pay Coinbase $150,000 to settle a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. The settlement follows the SEC's admission that it destroyed text messages sent by former Chair Gary Gensler.
Coinbase initiated the lawsuit seeking records related to Gensler's communications, aiming to uncover evidence of 'crypto by enforcement.' An internal report in 2025 revealed the SEC had deleted nearly a year of Gensler's texts due to 'avoidable' errors. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal stated that the agency tasked with policing corporate record-keeping somehow lost reams of its own text messages during the most intense period of the anti-crypto campaign.
The settlement marks another legal victory for Coinbase under the Trump administration, with the SEC, under the leadership of Paul Atkins, reportedly taking a more crypto-friendly approach and dropping several high-profile enforcement actions against crypto companies in 2025. In February, Coinbase reached a similar settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which agreed to pay $188,440 in legal fees and revise aspects of its transparency practices after a federal court found it had violated the Freedom of Information Act.
Grewal, who has served as Coinbase's chief legal officer since 2020, is set to transition to an advisory role at the exchange starting July 31.