Woofun AI reports that Coinbase has settled its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the agreement, the SEC will pay $150,000 and amend its record-keeping policy. The litigation exposed the loss of nearly a year of communications from former chairman Gary Gensler and other senior officials during peak crypto enforcement. Coinbase had initially sought documents detailing how securities laws apply to digital assets. The SEC attributed the missing text messages to an automatic data deletion process.

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal noted that the agency has previously fined financial institutions billions for similar failures. In February, Coinbase also settled an FOIA case with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which revealed that the FDIC instructed nearly twenty banks to halt crypto services starting in 2022. Grewal emphasized that these cases center on government transparency and the public's right to know if regulators restrict banking access through non-public means.