The SEC contended that Coinbase requested material that was “absolutely unrelated” to the court case.
The crypto exchange has been advocating for the SEC to make available additional documents that contain internal discussions regarding digital assets.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a New York court to reject Coinbase’s subpoena, which seeks to compel the agency to provide documents related to crypto assets. The agency has defined this request as “essentially all documents that in any way relate to crypto assets.”
The SEC’s court document on Monday asserted that the agency had been responding to Coinbase’s requests for the disclosure of additional documents, such as fair notice and documents from investigative folders outside of the Coinbase case.
The SEC stated that Coinbase persisted in pressuring them to search all agency records, including internal files and communications with government agencies and market participants. They didn’t provide any previous cases or legal principles to back up their “extraordinary” requests.
The SEC concluded that Coinbase pursued “essentially extraneous” documents on a flimsy basis that apparently related to Coinbase’s services or the application of securities laws to digital assets.
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In answer to the SEC’s court filing, Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, said on X, “If the SEC is going to launch a regulation by enforcement effort like never before, they owe the people they target and the public the courtesy of being open.”
According to the court document, Coinbase had previously requested that the court issue a subpoena to SEC Chair Gary Gensler in order to conduct a search of Gensler’s personal correspondence as a source of discovery. Katherine Polk Failla, a United States District Judge in New York, had denied the request.
Last year, the brought a lawsuit against Coinbase for its operation as an unregistered securities exchange. The SEC’s assertion that the many cryptocurrencies available on Coinbase are securities, which are subject to their regulations, is the fundamental issue at the heart of the dispute. Coinbase disputes this claim, contending that the majority of cryptocurrencies are digital commodities rather than securities.
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