SEC Denies Coinbase Subpoena Request

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved to deny Coinbase’s subpoena compelling the agency to produce documents about crypto assets, described as “essentially all documents that in any way relate to crypto assets.”

On Monday, the SEC’s court filing stated that the agency had accommodated previous requests from Coinbase for additional documents, including those related to investigative files outside the Coinbase case. However, the SEC noted that Coinbase was unsatisfied and pressured them to conduct an extensive search of agency records, including all internal files and communications with other government agencies and market participants.

The SEC criticized Coinbase for failing to cite any prior cases or legal principles that justify its extensive requests, labeling them as “entirely irrelevant” and based on weak premises connecting them to the services provided by Coinbase or the applicability of securities laws to digital assets.

In response to the SEC’s filing, Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, remarked on X that if the SEC intends to pursue an unprecedented regulation through enforcement, they owe transparency to those affected and the public.

Previously, Coinbase asked the court to subpoena SEC Chair Gary Gensler and search for his personal emails, a request that U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla has since rejected.

The ongoing dispute traces back to last year when the SEC sued Coinbase for operating as an unregistered securities exchange, asserting that many cryptocurrencies offered on Coinbase qualify as securities subject to regulation. Coinbase, conversely, maintains that the majority of cryptocurrencies are digital commodities, not securities.