Coinbase shares FOIA findings exposing U.S. authorities’ crypto handling

Crypto exchange Coinbase has begun sharing documents obtained through its ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to U.S. government agencies, shedding light on behind-the-scenes regulatory actions affecting the crypto industry. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Paul Grewal has shared three of these findings on X. One is a 2019 SEC email acknowledging a “crypto regulatory gap,” despite the agency later denying it existed. Another is a 2023 email from the New York State Attorney General (NYAG) asking the SEC to submit an amicus brief in the KuCoin case, arguing that Ethereum (ETH) is a security—an offer the SEC ignored. The third is a 2023 SEC email revealing the agency lacked the technical capability to open Coinbase’s video response to its Wells notice.