In response to court docket papers filed on Tuesday, Coinbase has pushed again exhausting towards the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Company’s newest bid to toss out its Freedom of Data Act lawsuit.
The change desires extra particulars about so-called “pause letters” that the FDIC allegedly despatched to banks, telling them to step away from crypto companies. Now, Coinbase is asking a decide to drive the FDIC to elucidate beneath oath the way it dealt with these data and at hand over all FOIA denial letters issued between 2020 and 2024.
Studies Shed Gentle On Pause Letters
Based mostly on experiences, the FDIC first utilized a broad exemption to cover the letters as “confidential financial institution examination data.” It paid no thoughts to sorting information from evaluation.
Coinbase notes that it took 4 court docket orders and 6 separate doc productions for the regulator to cough up the important thing recordsdata. That drawn-out course of, the change argues, exhibits that the company nonetheless “stonewalls our efforts to shed gentle” on previous strikes that focused crypto.
Coinbase’s Chief Authorized Officer, Paul Grewal, wrote on X that the FDIC workers “proceed to stonewall our efforts” and that these ways “can’t and received’t stand.”
We additionally filed a movement to take further discovery from the FDIC to resolve their FOIA practices, which as we’ve seen in our case are removed from what the legislation requires. The company ought to testify by way of a 30(b)(6) deposition and produce the letters it sends to FOIA…
— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) July 31, 2025
FDIC Procedures Underneath Evaluation
Studies have disclosed that inside FDIC coverage tells examiners to withhold any doc bearing on Exemption 8 in full, with “no obligation to segregate factual from analytical or deliberative materials.”
In a January listening to, regulators admitted they’d no formal litigation-hold course of for FOIA requests. The preliminary search additionally targeted solely on paperwork shared with the company’s Workplace of Inspector Common.
That slim scope meant essential emails and memos—ones that point out “pause letters” straight—have been missed at first.
Banking Entry Takes Hit
In response to an AIMA survey, 75% of crypto funds battle to get fundamental banking companies. That squeeze on banking companions has snarled transactions and settlement choices for companies like Coinbase.
Banks at the moment are cautious of any trace of regulatory danger. If the court docket orders extra sworn testimony, it might shine a lightweight on who actually signed off on the “pause letters,” and why examiners thought they needed to cover a lot.
In its movement for additional discovery, Coinbase additionally desires each FOIA denial letter the FDIC despatched over a four-year stretch. It’s asking for sworn statements from FDIC officers about how they determined which data to maintain secret.
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