Coinbase Escalates SEC Fight Over the Agency's Inside Chatter on ETH

The company's go-between on a quest to see SEC documents – History Associates – told a court it intends to ask for an immediate judgment in the dispute over internal communications.

Coinbase's go-between on a quest to see SEC documents – History Associates – told a court it intends to ask for an immediate judgment in the dispute over internal communications.Coinbase hired History Associates Inc. to pursue SEC communications under the Freedom of Information Act – a process that initially concluded with the agency denying the request by citing that the documents were connected to an ongoing investigation. Coinbase's hired gun eventually sued over the denial, and History Associates is preparing to ask the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to force the hand of the agency, which has since suggested the reason for its initial denial may no longer be valid."Lacking reasonable alternatives, History Associates intends to move for partial summary judgment on the SEC-generated documents," the company said in a notice filed on Monday with the court, detailing that plan to ask for a court ruling.A spokesperson for the SEC told CoinDesk the agency declines to comment "beyond our public filings."Coinbase has been conducting a multi-front legal fight with the SEC, including battling over an SEC enforcement action that accused the company of running an illegal securities business, a petition by the company to force the agency to make crypto-specific regulations and this conflict over whether insider messages on the SEC's crypto thinking should be subject to public review.