Coinbase, a renowned crypto exchange, has recently accused the U.S. SEC of eliminating crucial communications dealing with crypto regulations. The accusations have been made in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit submitted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to unveil SEC’s internal discussions concerning digital assets. As mentioned by Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, the U.S. SEC deliberately deleted text messages from the previous Chair Gary Gensler. Interestingly, these deletions took place in September 2023, after the filing of FOIA requests, raising notable concerns regarding compliance and transparency.

The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce. We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General. Today we ask the federal court to address this gross violation of public trust to ensure that it never happens again. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/DPLtHUiolj

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) September 11, 2025

Coinbase Cites OIG Report Confirming SEC Deleted Gensler’s Crypto Texts

Paul Grewal has asserted that the U.S. SEC destroyed internal discussions dealing with digital assets. In this respect, the executive also shared the official report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the SEC. The report confirms that the text messages from Gary Gensler were eliminated in 2023’s September. However, the respective deletions occurred following FOIA appeals’ submission but before the start of the litigation.

Hence, this development has triggered serious apprehensions about SEC’s compliance and transparency. While highlighting this development, Paul Grewal criticized the agency’s actions. He asserted that the SEC, under the leadership of Gensler, destroyed all the documents that they needed to preserve as well as produce. In addition to this, the executive stated that the official report from the SEC’s OIG gives the proof in favor of their claims. While responding to this, he added, Coinbase looks for expedited discovery, sanctions, as well as rapid production of the respective texts.

Destroyed Ethereum-Related Records Intensify Calls for SEC Oversight

According to Paul Grewal, the report from the SEC’s OIG clarifies the destruction of the internal documents regarding digital assets under Gary Gensler. In this respect, in mid-2023, Coinbase filed FOIA requests, demanding communications related to the transition of Ethereum to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and whether Ether ($ETH) fulfills the criteria of a security.

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Initially, the agency denied the respective requests in line with the Exemption 7(A), but later on acknowledged it had not searched the relevant text messages until this June, considerable time after the destruction of many. Keeping this in view, the case highlights the rising demand for wider institutional accountability.