In a notable legal move, **History Associates** has aligned with **Coinbase** to initiate a lawsuit against the **United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)**. The lawsuit seeks to enforce compliance with a **Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)** request for the release of certain documents.
The legal action, filed on **June 27**, is a direct challenge to the FDIC’s refusal to disclose “pause letters.” These documents, allegedly issued by the agency’s inspector general to financial institutions, contain directives to cease all cryptocurrency-related operations.
**Coinbase** engaged the services of **History Associates Incorporated** to file a FOIA request with the FDIC, which was subsequently rejected. As a result, History Associates is now pursuing legal measures to mandate the FDIC to make the requested documents public.
The lawsuit alleges that the FDIC, along with other financial regulators, has employed these pause letters as a strategic tool to coerce financial entities into severing ties with businesses dealing in digital assets, effectively isolating them from the banking sector. This approach mirrors the controversial “Operation Choke Point,” a previous initiative where regulators exerted pressure on banks to cut off services to specific sectors, such as payday lending firms.
In related developments, **Coinbase** has forged a partnership with the payment processor **Stripe** to streamline the onboarding process.
Despite the FOIA’s requirement for federal agencies to disclose information barring certain exceptions, the FDIC has declined to release the pause letters, invoking exemptions pertaining to trade secrets and examination materials without adequate explanation.
The lawsuit’s primary objective is to compel the FDIC to unveil the pause letters and other pertinent documents, thereby shedding light on the scope and nature of the FDIC’s actions against the digital asset sector.
Furthermore, the legal action by History Associates seeks to hold the FDIC and other regulatory bodies accountable for their conduct and to promote transparency within their regulatory processes.
In a separate but ongoing regulatory conflict, **Coinbase** is embroiled in a legal dispute with the **U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC)**. The SEC has leveled allegations against Coinbase, claiming it operates an unauthorized exchange that facilitates the trading of unregistered securities. Nonetheless, litigation analyst **Elliott Stein** has suggested that the likelihood of Coinbase failing against the SEC is minimal.
In international news, **El Salvador’s national Bitcoin chief** has been actively promoting Bitcoin adoption in **Argentina**.