SEC asks court to deny Coinbase’s ‘broad’ subpoena request

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked a New York court to dismiss Coinbase’s subpoena, which seeks to compel the agency to produce documents related to crypto assets.

The SEC described them as covering “essentially all documents that in some way relate to crypto assets.”

SEC objects to Coinbase’s subpoena request

The motion filed Monday represents the latest development in the legal battle between the SEC and Coinbase. The exchange is seeking to subpoena the agency and its employees, including chairman Gary Gensler, for communications and other records that could help its defense.

The SEC has particularly objected to the request for Gensler’s personal communications, calling the subpoena a gross impropriety.

In a letter to the court on June 28, the Commission argued that Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) should deny Coinbase’s request. Failla, perplexed by the firm’s demand for Gensler’s personal communications, particularly those dating back to his tenure as SEC chairman, held a pretrial conference by telephone on July 11 to discuss the requests conflicting

Failla remarked that he was surprised by the motion during the July 11 conference call, and not in a good way. He found the arguments, as articulated in the July 3 response, bordering on fatuous and was unmoved by any of them.

After the conference, the judge ordered Coinbase to refine its approach and ordered its lawyers to file a motion to compel as a preliminary step to resolving the discovery dispute. Coinbase complied and filed its motion on July 23, narrowing the scope of its request slightly but maintaining its fundamental position.

Coinbase’s ongoing battle with the SEC

Last year, the SEC filed civil charges against Coinbase, accusing the crypto exchange of operating as an unregistered stock exchange, broker and clearing agency and with the unregistered sale of securities in connection with its trading products. participation

In April, the exchange filed its first filing request with the SEC. Two months later, Coinbase indicated its intention to subpoena Gensler’s personal crypto-related communications from his entire tenure, including the four years before his appointment as SEC chairman.

In addition, Coinbase served a similar subpoena at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where Gensler taught a class on blockchain technology before joining the SEC. The company recently informed the court that it would no longer seek records related to Gensler’s role outside the Commission.

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