The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to pay $150,000 in attorneys' fees and release additional records to resolve a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on behalf of Coinbase, ending litigation that exposed gaps in the agency's preservation of former Chair Gary Gensler's text messages.
SEC Pays $150k To Settle Coinbase FOIA Case over Lost Gensler Messages
22 July 2026 - 23:04 CEST
By Ana Pereira
A joint status report filed on 22 Jul said the parties intend to dismiss the case after the SEC releases two previously withheld documents, provides details of its policy for preserving text messages on devices and pays the agreed legal fees.
The lawsuit was brought in June 2024 by History Associates, acting at Coinbase's direction, after the SEC denied three FOIA requests seeking records that could shed light on how the agency had applied securities laws to crypto. The records related to two closed crypto enforcement cases and the agency's internal consideration of Ethereum's transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.
Missing texts
The case expanded after the SEC's Office of Inspector General disclosed in September 2025 that text messages sent and received by Gensler between October 2022 and September 2023 had been lost. The report also found the agency was still backing up text messages from about 50 senior SEC officials as of September 2024.
Following that report, History Associates argued the SEC may have failed to comply with its FOIA obligations and court orders requiring searches for responsive records.
Settlement terms
Under the settlement, the SEC agreed to release one previously withheld document in full and another with extensive redactions, though the filing does not identify either document or say what they concern.
The agency also agreed to continue reviewing backups of senior officials' devices and search for text messages discussing whether Ether (ETH) is a security or whether transactions involving ETH are securities transactions.
The SEC will provide History Associates with updates every 30 days until its review of backed-up devices is complete and will disclose its policy for preserving text messages on SEC-issued devices going forward.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal characterized the agreement as a victory for government transparency in an opinion article published 22 Jul by The Wall Street Journal. Grewal wrote that the settlement followed the company's efforts to uncover how federal agencies handled crypto-related enforcement and said the SEC had agreed to pay one of the largest FOIA fee awards in the agency's history, while also changing its record-retention practices.
"The question of whether the government can shut any American from the banking system — in secret and without any chance of remediation — transcends politics. It goes to the heart of due process itself," Grewal wrote.
Although the SEC agreed to pay $150,000 in attorneys' fees, the filing states the agency "does not agree that History Associates has substantially prevailed" under FOIA and made the payment as a condition of resolving the case.
