Coinbase CLO Pleads for Court Relief in SEC Document Standoff

• Coinbase’s CLO requests court’s help in obtaining SEC documents.
• SEC resists Coinbase’s discovery request, calling it irrelevant.
• Coinbase asserts its right to access documents for defense.

American-crypto exchange Coinbase is pushing back against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in their ongoing legal dispute . The company is seeking crucial documents from the SEC through a discovery request regarding the lawsuit, a request the SEC has repeatedly opposed.

Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, announced the platform’s latest move on X (formerly Twitter). On August 12, Coinbase filed a reply memorandum in the US District Court for the Southern District Court of New York, responding to the SEC’s objections to their discovery request.

The SEC sued Coinbase in 2023, alleging the company operated as an unregistered securities exchange. The heart of the lawsuit revolves around whether the cryptocurrencies offered by Coinbase qualify as securities. Coinbase has requested the court to compel the SEC to produce documents related to these tokens as part of their discovery request.

The SEC, however, has resisted the exchange’s discovery request, stating it’s unnecessary as they’ve already provided around 240,000 documents. Coinbase even tried to subpoena SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s personal emails, arguing their relevance to the case, but Judge Katherine Polk Failla rejected this attempt.

In a recent filing, SEC lawyers reiterated their opposition to Coinbase’s discovery request for various documents, including internal and external emails. They argue these documents are irrelevant and that Coinbase is attempting to put the SEC itself on trial.

Undeterred, Coinbase has doubled down on its discovery request. The platform is now asking the court to require the SEC to provide details about the withheld documents. Grewal emphasized Coinbase’s right to be informed about the specifics of a case in which it is the defendant.