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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has agreed to pay Coinbase $188,440 and release previously withheld documents showing the agency urged banks to pause or halt cryptocurrency services, settling a multi-year Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that exposed regulatory pressure on crypto banking access.
The February 2026 settlement also requires the FDIC to revise its disclosure policies after a federal court found the agency improperly used blanket exemptions to deny public records requests about its communications with banks regarding digital assets.
At the center of the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit was a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records of communications between the FDIC and U.S. banks regarding cryptocurrency services.
Coinbase filed the request after confirming the existence of documents that allegedly told banks to pause, limit, or entirely stop crypto-related offerings.
When the FDIC refused to release the records, arguing broadly that they were exempt from disclosure, Coinbase took the matter to court. The litigation stretched over multiple years before concluding with a settlement that requires the FDIC to pay $188,440 in legal fees and revise its public disclosure policies.
According to court documents, the FDIC’s approach violated FOIA standards because it relied on a blanket refusal rather than reviewing each document individually. The court rejected the agency’s position that “such documents are not subject to disclosure,” a claim it said failed to meet statutory transparency requirements — U.S. District Court ruling.
The settlement formally resolves the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit, but it also sets a precedent for how bank supervision records related to emerging technologies may be handled going forward.
As a direct result of the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit, dozens of previously withheld documents were released. Legal experts familiar with the case described them as “pause letters” and cease-and-desist-style correspondence sent by the FDIC to regulated banks.
These letters requested that financial institutions refrain from offering new cryptocurrency services or expanding existing digital asset operations. In some cases, banks were urged to suspend crypto-related activity altogether while regulators evaluated potential risks.
The FDIC, an independent federal agency tasked with insuring deposits and supervising banks, maintained that its actions were part of routine oversight. However, the content of the letters intensified industry claims that regulators were quietly discouraging banks from engaging with crypto firms.
The disclosure stemming from the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit added substance to those claims by confirming that formal written guidance existed and was circulated across the banking sector.
Coinbase executives framed the outcome of the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit as validation of long-standing concerns about regulatory pressure on the crypto industry. Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase, said the litigation confirmed that documents directing banks to avoid cryptocurrency operations did, in fact, exist.
“The case confirms what the industry suspected — that regulators told banks to steer clear of crypto,” — Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer, Coinbase.
Grewal and other industry stakeholders have argued that such actions contributed to what they describe as a quiet “debanking” effort, where crypto companies lose access to basic banking services without clear regulatory justification.
The Coinbase FOIA lawsuit has since been cited by advocates calling for clearer rules and more transparent engagement between regulators and the digital asset sector.
Beyond the immediate financial settlement, the Coinbase FOIA lawsuit compels the FDIC to revise how it handles public disclosure of bank supervision documents related to cryptocurrency. The agency agreed to update its internal policies to ensure future FOIA requests receive document-by-document reviews rather than categorical denials.
