What Coinbase Just Did Will Leave the SEC Shaking! 👀

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Day 972 of Crypto-Anarchist Soap Opera. 🔍 Coinbase has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to pry open the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) financial diary. The drama? They want juicy deets on how the SEC spends taxpayer money chasing non-fraud crypto cases under the watchful (allegedly!) eye of our good pal and former SEC Chair Gary “Regulation-by-Enforcement” Gensler. 🎭

This request—a saga spanning April 2021 to January 2025—is basically Coinbase saying, “Show us the receipts, Gary.” 🧾

Think audits, spreadsheets, and endless “WordArt” budget presentations. Riveting stuff, right? According to Paul Grewal, the Chief Legal Officer (aka Coinbase’s legal knight in slightly tarnished armor), the exchange is demanding details about SEC employee hours, pay stubs, and even how much Gary’s coffee habit cost average taxpayers. Accountability, folks!

Because Transparency is the New Black 🕶️

Grewal took his grievances straight to X (formerly Twitter, but still—what is that name?). In a series of posts, he channeled his inner high-school debate captain, saying, “We know the previous SEC’s regulation-by-enforcement approach cost Americans innovation, global leadership, and jobs, but how much did it cost in taxpayer dollars?” 👈 Spoken like someone who’s definitely had to explain crypto to their mum… repeatedly.

We also want to know more about the previous SEC’s infamous “Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit” within the Enforcement Division – what was their budget, how many employees worked on it, how much did those employee hours cost? 3/4

— paulgrewal.eth (@iampaulgrewal) March 3, 2025

Coinbase appears to want a full-on workplace census on this Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, likely to determine how many preventable TPS reports actually got filed.

And Now, The SEC’s “Budget Justification” Starring 👀 Side-Eye

If the SEC was hoping people wouldn’t read its Fiscal Year 2025 Congressional Budget Justification, tough luck. Coinbase is not only reading it but highlighting suspicious paragraphs and probably sending screenshots to their group chats. They’re demanding ALL supporting documents about those so-called “digital asset investigations.” Staking and lending projects included. No SEC spending stone will remain unturned. 🪨❌

The question is: Were these dollars spent wisely, or did the SEC use its budget as a giant stick to whack innovation senseless (and jobless)? Sounds like Coinbase has their bets hedged. 🎰

The Fight for Crypto Clarity: Coming Soon to a Courtroom Near You

This isn’t Coinbase’s first rodeo with the SEC. They’ve been loudly arguing for regulatory clarity forever, shouting, “No rules are bad rules!” on Capitol Hill and beyond. The FOIA request is just their latest plot twist—a battle cry for the underdog (and, let’s be honest, Coinbase’s own bottom line). 🚩

As Grewal heroically (and maybe a little dramatically) stated, “We’ll never stop fighting for government transparency on behalf of our customers and this industry.” Key takeaway: Coinbase is putting on its war paint and settling in for a long bureaucratic brawl that may or may not outlive your favorite Netflix series. 🍿📺

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2025-03-03 19:47