Coinbase has escalated its legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filing a federal court motion on September 11 demanding expedited discovery, sanctions, and immediate production of all communications deleted by the agency.
The texts in question belonged to former SEC Chair Gary Gensler and span from October 2022 to September 2023—a period marked by the collapse of FTX and numerous enforcement actions against major players, including Coinbase.
SEC text deletions revealed
An SEC Office of Inspector General report released on September 3 confirmed that Gensler’s text messages were deleted during the agency’s crypto crackdown.
This deletion came after Coinbase submitted FOIA requests seeking all communications related to regulatory decisions on bitcoin and other digital assets.
Despite court orders requiring the SEC to provide all relevant documents and communications, the agency’s production did not include any text messages, nor did it clarify that text messages were searched.
Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal stated:
“The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General.”
delayed searches and technical failures
The SEC conducted text message searches only in April and June 2025, long after it claimed compliance with judicial orders.
The agency also reported technical limitations that affected the ability to recover texts from dozens of senior officials’ devices, resulting in incomplete searches.
mission-related communications discovered
The Inspector General’s report found that 38% of recovered Gensler texts involved mission-related discussions, contradicting previous claims that texts were used solely for administrative matters.
Notably, one conversation in May 2023 included coordination on enforcement actions against digital asset trading platforms.
Coinbase argues this sets a double standard, as the SEC imposed over $1 billion in fines on financial firms for similar recordkeeping violations under Gensler’s leadership.
The filing urges emergency court intervention to prevent further destruction of agency communications.
