We have already written about steps taken by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during the very early days of the Trump administration to distinguish itself in the cryptocurrency space from the SEC under its former Chairman, Gary Gensler. There was recission of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, which made it easier to custody crypto assets. See here. That was followed by the SEC’s pausing of a number of crypto lawsuits. See here. Then, the SEC voluntary dismissed its appeals of parallel decisions that had vacated the SEC’s February 2024 “Dealer Rule.” See here. Those posts discussed the political context for these changes after Republican Commissioner Mark Uyeda became Acting Chairman. Subsequent actions by the SEC confirm these radical changes.
Perhaps the most significant event was the SEC’s decision to drop its appeal against Ripple Labs in the long-standing lawsuit concerning XRP. This legal battle, which the SEC initiated in December 2020, alleged that Ripple’s sale of XRP constituted an unregistered securities offering. On March 19, 2025, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse posted on X: “This is it – the moment we’ve been waiting for. The SEC will drop its appeal – a resounding victory for Ripple, for crypto, every way you look at it.”
In connection with another high-profile case, on February 27, 2025, the SEC announced that the Commission had filed a joint stipulation with Coinbase Inc. and Coinbase Global Inc. to dismiss the ongoing civil enforcement action against those two companies. Consistent with the SEC’s changed outlook about the industry, the announcement said: “The Commission’s decision to exercise its discretion and dismiss this pending enforcement action rests on its judgment that the dismissal will facilitate the Commission’s ongoing efforts to reform and renew its regulatory approach to the crypto industry.”
In a March 3, 2025 blog post under the heading “A Win for Fairness,” Kraken said: “Today marks a pivotal moment for Kraken. The SEC staff has agreed in principle to dismiss its lawsuit against Kraken with prejudice, with no admission of wrongdoing, no penalties paid and no changes to our business. The SEC’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit against us (and many others) is more than just a legal victory — it’s a turning point for the future of crypto in the U.S. It ends a wasteful, politically motivated campaign, lifts uncertainty that stifled innovation and investment, and clears the path toward a stable, forward-thinking regulatory regime.” The SEC formally announced the dismissal in a March 27, 2025 Release.
Consensys Software Inc. is a software developer whose business centers on the Ethereum blockchain network. On June 28, 2024, the SEC charged Consensys with engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities, which followed a pre-emptive lawsuit Consensys had brought against the SEC over the issue of whether Ethereum is a security. See here. Consensys denied liability. On March 27, 2025, the SEC announced that it had filed a stipulation with Consensys to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission’s ongoing civil enforcement action against the company.
On October 10, 2024, the SEC charged Chicago-based Cumberland DRW LLC with operating as an unregistered dealer in over $2 billion of crypto assets offered and sold as securities, allegedly in violation of the registration requirements of the federal securities laws. Also on March 27, 2025, the SEC announced that it had filed a stipulation with Cumberland to dismiss, with prejudice, the Commission’s ongoing civil enforcement action against the company. In all three March 27 dismissals, the SEC said that the dismissal did not rest “on any assessment of the merits of the claims alleged in the action” and “does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s position on any other case.”
Although the SEC never brought an action against Robinhood Crypto, the company had received a Wells Notice (a letter indicating that the SEC may bring an enforcement action). Robinhood announced that, on February 21, 2025, the SEC’s Enforcement Division advised Robinhood that it had concluded its investigation and did not intend to move forward with an enforcement action. Likewise, Crypto.com had received a Wells Notice in October 2024 and announced on March 27, 2025 that the SEC had officially closed its investigation into Crypto.com and would file no enforcement action against the company.
The Gensler-led SEC also entered the NFT (non-fungible token) arena, with an initial enforcement action against Impact Theory, LLC, a media and entertainment company, and a second NFT enforcement action, against Stoner Cats. These cases, like the crypto cases, classified the NFTs as securities. OpenSea is the world’s largest peer-to-peer NFT marketplace. OpenSea founder Devin Finzer said in a Feb. 21 X post: “The SEC is closing its investigation into OpenSea. This is a win for everyone who is creating and building in our space. Trying to classify NFTs as securities would have been a step backward—one that misinterprets the law and slows innovation.” Similarly, on March 3, 2025 Yuga Labs posted on X that “after 3+ years, the SEC has officially closed its investigation into Yuga Labs. This is a huge win for NFTs and all creators pushing our ecosystem forward. NFTs are not securities.” Yuga Labs is the creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection.
The trend is clear. Indeed, the number of 180-degree turns taken by the SEC since inauguration day has been remarkable. Much attention now has naturally focused on the Crypto Task Force that Acting Chairman Uyeda launched the day after President Trump’s inauguration and which is being chaired by Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, long seen as a friend to the crypto industry. The announcement of the Task Force stated that “the Task Force’s focus will be to help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.” Furthermore, the nomination of SEC Chair-Designate, Paul Atkins, a known advocate for a more lenient regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies, was advanced by the Senate Banking Committee on April 3, 2025 and will now go to the full Senate for a vote. With Republican control of the Senate, the nomination is fully expected to be approved.
