The SEC Has Dropped 10 Crypto Cases in Q1 Alone

Since Donald Trump took office and began a shakeup at the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), the agency has dropped a number of cases against U.S. crypto firms — signaling a new approach to the industry with actions, not just words.

In the most recent case, last week, the SEC dropped its unregistered securities claims against Helium, a decentralized wireless infrastructure provider.

From Gensler to Atkins

The financial regulator under President Trump’s administration has clearly adopted a more pro-crypto stance, evident from the changes to its leadership and its renewed approach.

On April 9, the Senate confirmed Paul Atkins as SEC Chair. Trump selected Atkins, who is well known in the industry as an investor and advisor, as an explicitly pro-crypto nominee to replace Gary Gensler. Former Chair Gensler’s legacy among crypto industry participants is generally negative, given his much-criticized regulation by enforcement approach.

The appointment confirmation of Atkins comes after another pro-crypto move at the agency, which took place the day after Trump took office — the formation of a crypto task force, led by long-time industry supporter Commissioner Hester Peirce.

The post-Gensler SEC has been quick to take action to reverse many of the former Chairman’s enforcement moves. Since February, the agency has embarked on a lawsuit-dropping spree, relieving charges against numerous crypto companies.

A slew of dropped cases

Under Gensler, the agency notoriously pursued U.S. crypto companies with lawsuits, primarily alleging that the firms were dealing with assets — sometimes cryptocurrencies, sometimes non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — that the agency considered unregistered securities.

That approach has clearly shifted with Trump in office, evidenced by the dismissal of numerous prominent cases.

Ripple is a prime example. From 2020 until last month, Ripple and the SEC had been deadlocked in several securities lawsuits, making it one of the longest-running securities legal battles in crypto. All of that is water under the bridge now, as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed that the agency had agreed to drop the case.

Speaking to The Defiant about what this shift at the SEC means for consumers, Charles Wayn, co-founder of web3 community building platform Galxe, said:

“The responsibility to protect consumers will now fall largely on crypto institutions, exchanges, and projects themselves, and users will depend heavily on these entities to protect their interests. This conflicts with the past, since crypto has, like traditional finance, seen some extremely bad actors. The difference now is that the industry has learned and evolved, while it is now enjoying widespread institutional adoption.”

Charles Wayn

On March 27, crypto trading platform Crypto.com also announced that the SEC was closing its investigation into the firm with no action. The agency had initially issued Crypto.com a Wells notice August 2024, informing the platform of its intention to launch an investigation over whether it was guilty of distributing unregistered securities. The crypto firm in turn filed a lawsuit against the SEC in October of last year, accusing the agency of overstepping its jurisdiction.

On March 26, Immutable, a web3 gaming platform, also announced that the SEC has decided to close its investigation into the platform, its CEO, and the IMX Gaming Foundation, a governing body for web3 gaming, around whether or not it had violated U.S. securities laws.

The SEC has also dropped its three-year-long investigation into Yuga Labs, an NFT development company, according to a March 3 X post from the platform.

Other prominent U.S. crypto companies that have had their cases dropped by the SEC include Kraken on March 3, Coinbase on Feb. 27, Consensys also on Feb. 27, Uniswap on Feb. 25, Gemini on Feb. 24, Opensea on Feb. 21 and Robinhood on Feb. 21.

“Perhaps crypto can now look forward to innovation with a new focus on consumer protection,” said Wayn.