{"id":21605,"date":"2026-02-09T11:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/fdic-pays-188k-pledges-policy-shift-in-coinbase-foia-crypto-case\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:22:42","slug":"fdic-pays-188k-pledges-policy-shift-in-coinbase-foia-crypto-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/fdic-pays-188k-pledges-policy-shift-in-coinbase-foia-crypto-case\/","title":{"rendered":"FDIC pays $188k, pledges policy shift in Coinbase FOIA crypto case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">The FDIC will pay $188,440 and revise its disclosure rules after a Coinbase FOIA lawsuit exposed \u201cpause letters\u201d telling banks to curb or halt crypto services.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_b290c16a432380d3b0074b8a897bcf71\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The FDIC settled Coinbase\u2019s FOIA suit by agreeing to cover $188,440 in legal fees and update how it handles bank supervision documents tied to crypto.<\/li>\n<li>Courts found the FDIC improperly blanket\u2011withheld records, leading to the release of dozens of \u201cpause\u201d or cease\u2011and\u2011desist\u2011style letters targeting banks\u2019 crypto activities.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptorank.io\/news\/feed\/94872-fdic-loses-crypto-pause-letters-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal says the case proves regulators told banks to steer clear of crypto, fueling claims of a quiet \u201cdebanking\u201d push against the industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation agreed to pay $188,440 in legal fees and revise its public disclosure policy to settle a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Coinbase, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coinbase.com\/legal\/foia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">according<\/a> to court documents.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FDIC and the settlement resolved<\/h2>\n<p>The settlement resolves a multi-year legal dispute over the FDIC\u2019s refusal to disclose documents that allegedly directed banks to halt or restrict cryptocurrency services, according to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/357422\/fdic-pay-fees-drop-foia-crypto-pause-letters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Decrypt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The case centered on correspondence the FDIC sent to banks, characterized as \u201ccease and seek letters,\u201d which requested financial institutions refrain from offering new cryptocurrency-related services or expanding existing digital asset operations.<\/p>\n<p>Coinbase filed the FOIA request seeking disclosure of these documents after confirming their existence. The FDIC declined to release the materials, prompting the legal action.<\/p>\n<p>The court ruled the FDIC\u2019s response violated the Freedom of Information Act by withholding all documents collectively under a blanket claim that \u201csuch documents are not subject to disclosure\u201d without conducting individual document reviews, according to the ruling.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>The settlement resulted in the disclosure of dozens of cease and desist letters from the FDIC ordering banks to cease cryptocurrency-related activities, according to legal experts familiar with the case.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, stated in a press release following the settlement that the litigation confirmed documents directing banks to avoid cryptocurrency operations existed.<\/p>\n<p>The FDIC is an independent government agency that operates under federal authority to insure bank deposits and supervise financial institutions in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FDIC will pay $188,440 and revise its disclosure rules after a Coinbase FOIA lawsuit exposed \u201cpause letters\u201d telling banks to curb or halt crypto services. Summary The FDIC settled&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21607,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21605\/revisions\/21607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}