Key Takeaways
- An October 8 hearing by a federal judge will explore claims by Coinbase that the SEC deleted text messages between Gary Gensler in his time at the SEC.
- Coinbase alleges that the SEC deleted close to one year of texts of Gensler in an argument referencing the Inspector General report at the agency that raised the alarm over the missing documents.
- More than 40 top SEC officials were found to have lost records by the Inspector General, something that made Coinbase seek sanctions and a faster discovery in court.
The U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia has set a status conference on October 8, 2025, at 3:30 p.m., before Judge Ana C. Reyes. The hearing concerns Coinbase’s claims that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had destroyed important documents upon the tenure of Gary Gensler as chair.
Court Sets Hearing Date as Coinbase Accuses SEC
The order comes after the exchange accused that the SEC deleted close to one year of text messages exchanged by Gensler, which was originally disclosed by the agency itself in its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report. OIG reported that October 2022 onwards through September 2023 messages were permanently deleted under a policy of wiping devices automatically after 45 days of non-connection of agency devices to its network.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote on X, “The district court just ordered everyone to appear on October 8 to address the destruction of documents by the Gensler SEC as detailed by its own inspector general. We appreciate the Court’s attention to this matter.”
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Earlier this month, Grewal accused the regulator of misconduct, saying, “The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General.”
Other Issues Mentioned in Coinbase’s Plea
Coinbase’s filing, prepared with the assistance of private historical research firm History Associates, asks the court to impose sanctions, order expedited discovery, and compel immediate production of any remaining communications. “The agency’s destroy-and-delay approach to records must end immediately,” the filing stated, warning that the deletions have caused “irreparable harm” that cannot be undone.
The accusations against the SEC arrive at a time when the regulator has fined private firms billions of dollars for poor recordkeeping. “The SEC has fined private firms billions for poor recordkeeping, but now stands accused of doing the very same thing itself,” said Rishabh Gupta, Director at Web3 platform Trade Dog Group. “This creates a profound ‘do as I say, not as I do’ problem that severely undermines the SEC’s moral authority.”
The OIG report noted that more than 40 other senior officials’ devices may also contain missing records, with 21 devices flagged for confirmed or suspected data loss. These potential lapses coincided with pivotal events in the crypto industry, which include the collapse of FTX and heightened enforcement activity against crypto firms.
Industry figures say the alleged deletions strike at the heart of regulatory transparency. “The reported erasure of key communications raises significant questions around transparency and accountability,” said Shiv Pande, Chief Business Officer at BitSave. “Regulatory positions carry the heavy responsibility of gatekeeping, where decisions must be anchored in fair principles and objective evidence.”
Had the SEC conducted proper searches when Coinbase submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in 2023, the filing argues, “the agency could have reviewed and processed those records then, or at least taken steps to preserve them” before Gensler’s texts were erased.
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