Crypto giant Coinbase has filed a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for allegedly seeking to exclude the crypto industry from the banking industry. The exchange claims that the regulators did not comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to force them to comply.
According to official documents from Coinbase: "Over the past two years, numerous federal financial regulatory agencies, including the SEC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve Board, have used every regulatory tool at their disposal to weaken the digital asset industry."
(Source: Twitter)
"This FOIA lawsuit is aimed at exposing the role of the FDIC in this unlawful plan."
Coinbase's chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, announced the lawsuit on Twitter and further expressed the exchange's dissatisfaction. The statement reads: "Federal financial regulators have used a variety of tactics to try to weaken the digital asset industry."
"The SEC claims vast powers but refuses to provide any rules, much less consistent or coherent ones. The FDIC pressures financial institutions to isolate this industry from the banking system."
(Source: Twitter)
Coinbase's representative consulting firm is History Associates Inc, which also submitted FOIC requests. According to the complaint, the FOIA request was for information about how the agency views Ethereum.
Once approved, the public will be able to view these documents and information.
History Associates specifically requested "access to all copies and records regarding Ethereum turning to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism," and emphasized that the SEC rejected the request and later rejected their appeal.
"The reason the SEC denies access to settled investigation files from years ago is to obstruct Coinbase's legitimate purpose in seeking the Coburn and Enigma MPC documents to understand the SEC's legal views behind its enforcement blitz against the digital asset industry," Coinbase stressed.
The exchange pointed out that the SEC's obstruction is a violation of its FOIA obligations.
Coinbase's Chief Learning Officer also added in the statement that now is the time for the SEC and FDIC to do better.
"This is not how regulation works, and this is not how transparent government operates. Today, we call on financial regulators to do better. We appreciate the court's attention to these important issues and look forward to sharing updates in the future."