The Securities and Exchange Commission will pay $150,000 in legal fees as part of a settlement ending a Coinbase-backed public-records lawsuit. The deal, reached July 22, 2024, resolves a suit filed by History Associates — working with Coinbase — on June 27, 2024. Under the terms, the SEC will release two documents it previously withheld and review its records and text-message preservation practices.
The settlement terms
The SEC agreed to pay the legal fees but admitted no wrongdoing. Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal called the settlement a win for transparency. The agency will also conduct an internal review of how it preserves records and text messages, a process that could affect future Freedom of Information Act requests involving crypto policy or enforcement.
Missing Gensler texts
The settlement comes after a separate finding by the SEC's inspector general in September 2025. That report found that records-preservation errors caused the loss of former Chair Gary Gensler's texts from Oct. 18, 2022, through Sept. 6, 2023. The missing messages likely included federal records. The settlement does not confirm that those texts were recovered.
What this means for FOIA
The SEC's commitment to review its records preservation could have broader implications. Future FOIA requests — especially those tied to crypto policy or enforcement — may face fewer roadblocks if the agency tightens its internal processes. But the settlement leaves open the question of whether the lost Gensler texts will ever surface. The SEC has not said when it will complete the review.
