The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit over its investigations into Ethereum, according to a joint status report filed July 22.
History Associates Inc. and the SEC asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss the case after reaching a settlement agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the agency will produce the remaining relevant documents and pay a flat fee to cover the plaintiff’s legal costs.
History Associates, which provides professional historical research, editorial and archival services to government agencies, filed the suit in June 2024. Working on behalf of Coinbase, the company had submitted three public records requests the previous year. These filings sought documents on the SEC investigations into Zachary Coburn and Enigma MPC, as well as documents on how Ethereum moved to a proof-of-stake system.
The lawsuit forced the SEC to turn over thousands of documents, with the court explicitly ordering the agency to prioritize all records and communications sent, received, or evaluated by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler regarding Ethereum’s migration from a proof-of-work blockchain to a proof-of-stake network.
