Since U.S. President Donald Trump reassumed office just over two months ago and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped or paused more than a dozen ongoing cases (and lost one).
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The story
With Mark Uyeda taking over as acting chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency seems to have concluded almost all publicly disclosed crypto-related cases in the last two months. Many of the court filings indicate that the SEC is pulling back on these cases while its new crypto task force reevaluates how securities laws are applied to digital assets. However, in some instances, the SEC is closing cases without the option to sue again if previously active cryptos are found to be securities.
Significance
TKTK
Detailed breakdown
- Ripple: Ripple has reached an agreement with the SEC to drop its appeal of a federal judge’s 2023 ruling. Ripple will receive $75 million back from the $125 million fine imposed by the judge.
- Coinbase: The SEC has withdrawn its ongoing case against Coinbase, filing for dismissal with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be brought again. The SEC had initially alleged that several cryptocurrencies, including Solana, Cardano, Polygon, and others, were being traded as securities.
- ConsenSys: The SEC is dropping its case against ConsenSys over the MetaMask wallet, with a joint stipulation for dismissal with prejudice filed on March 27.
- Kraken: The SEC informed Kraken that it would drop the case alleging securities law violations and commingling of funds. A joint stipulation for dismissal was filed on March 27.
- Cumberland DRW: The SEC is dropping its case against Cumberland DRW, alleging unregistered securities dealing. A motion to stay proceedings was filed on March 18.
- Pulsechain: The SEC’s suit against Pulsechain and HEX was dismissed by a federal judge, citing lack of jurisdiction.
- Immutable: The SEC has closed its investigation into Immutable Labs.
- Yuga Labs: The SEC has closed its investigation into Yuga Labs.
- Robinhood: The SEC has closed its investigation into trading platform Robinhood.
- OpenSea: The SEC has closed its investigation into NFT marketplace OpenSea.
- Uniswap: The SEC has closed its investigation into Uniswap Labs.
- Gemini: The SEC has closed its investigation into Gemini.
- Binance: The SEC and Binance have paused their case for 60 days, with a joint status report due by April 14.
- Tron Foundation: The SEC and the Tron Foundation have paused their case for 60 days, with a new deadline expected around April 27.
- Crypto.com: The SEC has closed its investigation into Crypto.com without taking enforcement action.
- Unicoin: Unicoin is currently the only publicly disclosed ongoing investigation by the SEC.
- HAWK: The SEC has closed its investigation into HAWK.
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