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SEC settles Coinbase suit over lost Gensler texts

Former SEC chair Gary Gensler. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The SEC will pay Coinbase $150,000 after the crypto exchange’s FOIA request revealed deleted agency texts.

In September 2025, the SEC drew controversy after it emerged that the agency had lost nearly a year’s worth of text messages sent and received by former Chair Gary Gensler during a period in which companies were heavily censured for having deficient record retention policies on their books.

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