Coinbase wants US banking regulators to disclose information regarding an apparent “digital asset deposit cap” they’ve been imposing on financial institutions, according to Paul Grewal, the exchange’s chief legal officer (CLO).
Grewal notes the firm filed a new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), asking for copies of documents related to “the imposition of a formal or informal cap, limit, ceiling, maximum, or other restriction or restraint on deposits from digital asset companies at depository institutions, including but not limited to Signature Bank, Customers Bank, Cross River Bank, Western Alliance Bank, and Silvergate Bank.”
The FOIA filing requests documents and communications on the topic that were exchanged between the FDIC and third-party depository institutions, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and members of the press.
Coinbase has also filed a FOIA request with the FDIC for internal logs that demonstrate how it is fielding other FOIA requests.
The top US crypto exchange is in the midst of multiple legal battles with US regulators: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Coinbase in June 2023 for allegedly violating securities laws, including selling unregistered securities and operating an unregistered exchange/broker agency.
And in June, the exchange filed a counter-lawsuit against the SEC and the FDIC, accusing the regulators of acting outside their jurisdiction, attempting to “cripple” the crypto industry and avoiding FOIA requests.
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