• The SEC has urged the Southern District Court of New York to reject Coinbase’s extensive discovery requests, arguing they are “breathtakingly broad.”
• On the other hand, Coinbase argues that the discoveries are fundamental in explaining the SEC’s stance on cryptocurrencies.

On Monday, the ongoing legal battle between renowned crypto exchange Coinbase and the U.S. SEC took an unprecedented turn. The Securities and Exchange Commission officially requested that the Southern District Court of New York deny Coinbase’s extensive discovery demands. Shaking things up, the SEC has described these demands as “breathtakingly broad.” Furthermore, the SEC termed these requirements as irrelevant.

Backtracking, this intense legal battle was initiated when the SEC filed a lawsuit alleging that Coinbase operated as an unregistered securities exchange. This means that Coinbase lacked proper documentation as a crypto exchange.

Subsequently, Coinbase has attempted to justify its actions. In recent developments, Coinbase has gone further in search of a wide range of documents, not forfeiting personal emails of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, which include interactions with other personnel. 

Following Coinbase’s new discoveries, which the SEC has termed “breathtakingly broad,” the SEC has argued that the focus should be on Coinbase’s activities and the nature of the assets it offers, not the discoveries, as they are irrelevant to the case. 

With the SEC’s determined efforts to pin down the crypto exchange, it has submitted more than 240,000 documents related to its investigation of Coinbase, while the exchange has only submitted a fraction of what the SEC has. Coinbase has produced only 2,162 documents for which they haven’t submitted a corresponding privilege log.

Coinbase boldly asks the U.S. watchdogs to provide every nugget of communication concerning “the application of the securities laws to digital assets.” The “breathtakingly broad” request covers a wide range of materials, including those from senior executives and external communications collected over a long period. The SEC argues these demands are excessive as they lack significant connection to the Coinbase allegations.

According to Coinbase, Gary Gensler’s e-mails are of key objective. Arguing that this kind of request would be an overreach, the SEC has refuted these demands, asserting that “The views expressed by the SEC Chair in his official capacity are his own and do not bind the Commission or represent a consensus of its members,” 

Additionally, The SEC has added another twist to the argument. The SEC argues that Coinbase’s requests would burden the agency unreasonably. In essence, the regulator warns that setting this precedent could mean that government agencies have to disclose a lot of internal communications. With that in mind could mean an alteration in how they interact with regulated industries in the future.

Heating up the argument, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, responded to the SEC’s filing via X, stating that: “Today SEC filed its response to our request to produce important documents showing the record of the SEC’s inconsistent views of digital assets and its own regulatory reach. If the SEC is going to engage in an unprecedented regulation by enforcement campaign, the least they owe to those they target – and the public – is transparency.”