Coinbase Accuses FDIC of Concealing ‘Pause Letters’

The consulting firm History Associates reported that the FDIC failed to provide dozens of ‘pause letters’ requested during litigation initiated by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, according to Cointelegraph.

According to whistleblowers, the federal agency has been ‘systematically obstructing FOIA requests.’ History Associates believes this approach led the FDIC to mention only 25 letters in their case, omitting at least 150 more documents.

Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stated that they were interested in all ‘pause letters’ ever reviewed by the FDIC’s Office of Inspector General. However, agency staff limited their response to the period from March 2022 to May 2023.

A picture of deceit, obfuscation, and bad faith is coming into focus at @FDICgov. Today we’re reporting to the federal court that the agency once again stonewalled legitimate requests for information in our case, and that we’re moving to amend our FOIA complaint to address their…

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) January 17, 2025

“When we asked them to correct their supposed reasonable interpretation and stop playing word games, they told us it would take at least a year,” Grewal added.

The FDIC believes that History Associates lacks ‘reasonable grounds’ to assume any letters outside the specified period were covered by the initial FOIA request. Nonetheless, they are willing to consider a separate request for those letters.

History Associates plans to amend the lawsuit with new allegations against the agency.

Earlier, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis threatened the FDIC with criminal charges if the agency indeed destroyed documents related to crypto oversight.

Back in June 2024, Coinbase sued the SEC and FDIC over their attempts to ‘cut off’ the crypto industry from the banking sector.

The exchange seeks access to fully unredacted versions of the ‘pause letters,’ as most are heavily redacted, complicating their understanding.