SEC asks court for four months to produce documents in case against Coinbase
Date: 2024-09-20 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have asked a court to give them until February 2025 to produce “hundreds of thousands of documents” as part of discovery proceedings in the case against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
In a Sept. 18 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC asked a federal judge to grant the commission a four-month extension to complete discovery in the case against Coinbase. The SEC was originally supposed to produce the documents on October 18. However, Coinbase won a partial motion to compel discovery, which required the SEC to provide data on how securities laws apply to tokens.
“The SEC is reviewing at least 133,582 unique documents,” the statement said. “The requested extension will provide the SEC with the time it needs to comply with the court’s order.”
If Judge Catherine Faila approves the request, the SEC could have until February 18 to produce documents related to factual discovery. Expert discovery, including interrogatories and supporting documents, could have until April 22. Under the projected schedule, if the parties proceed to a jury trial, it would not happen until 2025.
Cryptocurrency in Courtrooms and Congressional Hearings
As the courts weigh in on cryptocurrency exchanges, U.S. lawmakers are debating what role the SEC should play in regulating digital assets. Members of the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion met on September 18 to consider whether the SEC has a “politicized approach” to cryptocurrencies under Chairman Gary Gensler.
The SEC's lawsuit against Coinbase is one of many cases the regulator has brought accusing exchanges of offering and selling tokens as unregistered securities. In 2024, a judge ordered Ripple Labs to pay the SEC $125 million after a three-year legal battle, and Terraform Labs agreed to pay more than $4 billion to settle a dispute with the regulator.
Cases against Binance, Kraken, and other companies are ongoing. It's unclear whether a change in SEC leadership after the 2024 U.S. election will have a significant impact on the lawsuits.
