Coinbase has filed two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests against United States regulators demanding they disclose, among other things, information about the ongoing cryptocurrency crackdown among US banks, according to Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the US agency insuring bank deposits, has reportedly asked banks to cap deposits from crypto companies at 15% of total deposits.
“We filed two new sets of FOIA requests in our continued effort to get any sort of clarity on how regulatory agencies are approaching digital assets,” Grewal said in an Oct. 21 post on the X platform.
“The first is for documents about a digital asset deposit cap [by the FDIC] and other banking regulators have been imposing on financial institutions,” Grewal said.
Coinbase filed a second FOIA request to learn more about how regulators responded to other crypto-related FOIAs in the past, he added.
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The FDIC purportedly imposed the deposit caps without first soliciting public comment, which is generally a requirement for banking regulators under US law.
“Each [FOIA request] is separate from our FOIA filings from over a year ago that are now the subject of federal lawsuits,” Grewal said.
In June, Coinbase filed lawsuits against the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the FDIC for allegedly refusing to comply with previous requests for public disclosures.
In 2023, Coinbase asked the SEC to divulge documents relating to the agency’s classification of Ether (ETH).
The SEC filed charges against Coinbase in 2023 for allegedly violating securities laws with its ETH staking-as-a-service offering.
Spot ETH is classified as a commodity by US regulators but the regulatory status of ETH staking pools is uncertain.
Coinbase also sent FOIAs to the FDIC demanding information about “pause letters” the agency purportedly sent to banks demanding they slow down the growth of crypto-related banking activities.
Stand with Crypto, Coinbase’s project advocating for “common-sense” digital asset regulation, launched a political action committee (PAC) in March to support pro-crypto candidates.
The November US presidential election pits Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has said he wants to make America “the crypto capital of the world,” against Democrat Kamala Harris, who has been comparatively quiet on the industry.
United States Vice President Harris is friendlier toward crypto than her boss, President Joe Biden, but not as pro-industry as rival and former President Trump, Galaxy Research said on Oct. 14.
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