The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is resisting Coinbase's demand for documents, including private emails from Chair Gary Gensler.
On August 5, the SEC filed a memorandum opposing Coinbase's request, arguing that it was too broad and irrelevant. "It is the Court's analysis of the facts and the law, not the SEC's internal discussions or discussions with market participants that will decide this case," the filing states.
The SEC emphasized that it has already provided over 240,000 documents and is reviewing 117,000 more for relevant information. The regulator added that producing an additional three million documents would be "disproportional to the needs of the case."
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In July, Coinbase requested access to private communications of SEC Chair Gary Gensler from his tenure starting in 2021, along with other documents related to his comments on applying securities laws to digital assets and exchanges.
Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, argued in a post on X that these documents are essential to demonstrating the SEC's inconsistent stance on crypto and its regulatory scope.
However, the SEC maintains that it has met its discovery obligations and calls for the denial of Coinbase's motion.
The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023, alleging that the company violated federal securities laws by operating as an unregistered securities broker since 2019. The regulator identified 13 crypto assets offered by Coinbase, including Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polygon (MATIC), which it considered securities.
The SEC remains firm in its stance against Coinbase's document request, underscoring the need for regulatory clarity and ongoing enforcement in the crypto industry.
