SEC Pays Coinbase $150K for Gensler's Ghost Texts—Read Receipts Finally Delivered 👻

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to pay Coinbase $150,000 to settle a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over text messages from former Chair Gary Gensler that the agency failed to preserve, according to a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on July 22 by Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal. The settlement resolves the FOIA action Coinbase filed after the SEC dropped its enforcement case against the exchange earlier in 2025, when the regulator pivoted from litigation toward crypto policy development.

Grewal disclosed the terms of the agreement in his July 22 WSJ op-ed, describing it as another legal win for the exchange as it continues to engage with the SEC and other agencies on rulemaking for digital assets. The underlying FOIA request sought internal SEC records related to the agency's stance on crypto regulation during the period covered by the dismissed enforcement action.

Under the settlement, the SEC will pay the $150,000 award to Coinbase for the lost messages that were the subject of the FOIA dispute. The agency did not admit liability as part of the agreement, and the payment is structured as compensation tied to the records at issue in the case rather than a broader penalty.

Coinbase had pursued the FOIA litigation after the SEC moved to dismiss its enforcement case against the exchange in early 2025, a step Grewal and other company executives have pointed to as evidence of a shifting posture inside the regulator. The exchange and its executives have said they plan to continue cooperating with the SEC and other federal bodies as those agencies work on frameworks for digital asset oversight, including rulemakings that have been pending at the commission.

The $150,000 settlement adds to a series of courtroom and administrative outcomes involving Coinbase and the SEC over the past year, and the exchange has framed the resolution as part of its broader push for what it calls greater transparency and regulatory clarity in U.S. crypto policy.