The SEC continues to drop crypto cases

It’s been a good week for crypto companies, at least from a regulatory point of view. Crypto.com announced Thursday that the SEC had closed its investigation into the company “with no enforcement action or settlement.” 

“Under the previous administration, the SEC weaponized and attempted to expand its congressionally granted power in order to harm an industry that its former chair disfavored,” Nick Lundgren, chief legal officer of Crypto.com, said in a press release. “It is unfortunate that we were forced to endure this years-long investigation and file our own suit against the SEC to protect the rule of law.”

The dismissal comes on the heels of Crypto.com announcing it had partnered with Trump Media & Technology Group to launch a series of crypto ETFs via its Truth.Fi brand.

The SEC also dismissed its civil enforcement action against Kraken yesterday.

Kraken’s dismissal is part of the commission’s “efforts to reform and renew its regulatory approach to the crypto industry,” according to a statement.

The new SEC is methodically dismissing many crypto companies’ litigations, a sharp reversal from the previous administration and former Chair Gary Gensler’s sterner stance toward the industry, referred to as “regulation by enforcement.”

Last month, the SEC dropped its investigation into Robinhood Crypto as well as its case against the largest US crypto platform, Coinbase.

(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company.)

On Wednesday, Commissioner Hester Peirce spoke at The Digital Chamber’s 8th Annual DC Blockchain Summit, outlining her vision for new crypto regulations. Peirce likened her crypto regulatory journey to a Robert Frost poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

She said, “Although lyrical verses of securities law have since largely displaced more traditional poetry in my mind’s cluttered recesses, the closing stanza of Frost’s poem hangs on:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.”

She explained, “Frost’s desire to pause the journey to watch the falling snow cover the forest floor resonates with me; I would like the luxury of stopping for a moment or more to watch and think in quiet solitude about what a beautiful regulatory framework would look like.”

Go Deeper: What the new SEC crypto task force means for the industry