SEC requests for more time to produce documents in Coinbase case

SEC reportedly seeks an extension to February 2025 for it to provide case documents to Coinbase
Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken are all facing SEC lawsuits

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed for an extension from the court, asking for more time as it looks to provide documents related to its case against crypto exchange Coinbase. Cointelegraph reported this on September 19.

SEC asks for an extension

Court documents filed on September 18 reveal that the SEC wants the court to extend the timeline for them to furnish Coinbase with key material by four months.

The regulator filed its request at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, and if granted, will see it have until February 2025 for the deadline to share over 133,000 documents.

SEC’s court filing comes a month to the end of the initial timeline on October 18, which is when the securities watchdog was to hand over documents as part of the case’s discovery proceedings phase. According to the regulator, an extension will allow it to produce the necessary documents.

SEC has sued several crypto companies

These latest developments in the SEC vs. Coinbase lawsuit adds to several others in recent months and weeks. It includes court filings and verdicts in the regulator’s cases against crypto exchanges Binance and Kraken, which are the other major industry players in a legal battle with the SEC.

Both the courts and US lawmakers have taken issue with the SEC’s use of the term “digital asset securities”. This is part of the main allegations against crypto exchanges, with the regulator alleging securities laws violations by these firms.

The term ‘digital asset security’ does not appear anywhere in any law enacted by Congress or in any rule promulgated by the SEC or in any decision rendered by the Supreme Court. It appears nowhere in the 2 million pages of the Federal Register. If it comes from neither statute… pic.twitter.com/ucSaCzEvOU

— Rep. Ritchie Torres (@RepRitchie) September 19, 2024

In 2020, the agency sued Ripple Labs over the XRP cryptocurrency – a case that dragged for three years before a notable ruling in July 2023 declared XRP not a security. The regulator also reached a $4 billion settlement with Terraform Labs.

A judge denied Kraken’s motion to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit against the exchange in August this year.