SEC swaps court-by-court crypto war for rulemakings as stablecoins and commodities take shape

During fiscal year 2025, the Commission filed 456 enforcement actions, including 303 standalone actions and 69 “follow-on” administrative proceedings... and obtaining orders for monetary relief totaling $17.9 billion.[1] ... $14.9 billion of that figure is a single unrelated judgment tied to Robert Allen Stanford’s decade-old Ponzi scheme; strip that out and the real total is closer to $2.7 billion, split roughly evenly between disgorgement and civil penalties.[13]

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.

The SEC filed fewer crypto-related enforcement actions in 2025 and imposed smaller penalties. New SEC enforcement actions involving digital assets fell 60 percent in 2025... Monetary penalties imposed in 2025 against digital-asset market participants totaled $142 million—less than 3 percent of the monetary penalties in 2024.[10] The Securities and Exchange Commission brought 33 new crypto enforcement actions in 2024 and only 13 in 2025 — a roughly 60% decline.[3]

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.

The SEC noted a significant course correction in its approach to crypto assets, having dismissed seven enforcement actions brought by the prior administration against crypto firms, including cases against Binance, Cumberland DRW, Consensys, Payward (Kraken), Dragonchain, and Balina.[5] The SEC dismissed seven crypto-related enforcement actions in 2025.[10] The SEC emphasized that going forward it will prioritize “fraud in its many forms” rather than pursuing registration-based actions against cr

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.

Today’s operating law is the joint SEC-CFTC interpretation issued this spring: 16 major digital assets classified as digital commodities under CFTC jurisdiction, staking and mining and airdrops placed outside securities law, and a coordination framework between the agencies for the assets and activities in between.[4] Investment-contract test unchanged: new token offerings promising profits from promoter’s efforts remain securities offerings.[4] Under the SEC’s March 2026 interpretive release, m

On March 31, 2026, the SEC voluntarily dismissed five cases against crypto companies accused of manipulating crypto markets through wash trading, including actions against CLS Global FZC LLC, Gotbit Consulting LLC, Vy Pham, and ZM Quant Investment Ltd.[14]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins.[12] The new law requires stablecoins to be backed by liquid assets - such as U.S. dollars and short-term Treasury bills - and for issuers to disclose publicly the composition of their reserves monthly.[12] Issuers would be subject to the Bank Secrecy Act, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) would be required to write tailored anti-money-laund

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.

On May 22, 2024, the House passed H.R. 4763, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21).[11] FIT21 would create a regulatory regime for the digital asset industry apportioning regulatory authority with respect to digital assets between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)... The CFTC would be granted plenary authority over spot market digital asset commodities, while the SEC would maintain authority over re

MiCA entered into force in the EU on 29 June 2023, with provisions relating to issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens beginning to apply from 30 June 2024 and the remainder, relating mainly to CASP authorisation, from 30 December 2024.[15] Member States may adopt a transition period allowing entities providing crypto-asset services in accordance with national applicable laws before 30 December 2024 to continue to do so until 1 July 2026... The Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Luxe

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/885 of 29 April 2025 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 with regard to regulatory technical standards specifying the arrangements, systems and procedures to prevent, detect and report market abuse, the templates to be used for reporting suspected market abuse, and the coordination procedures between the competent authorities for the detection and sanctioning of market abuse in cross-border market abuse situations.[8]

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.

At least 17 companies and individuals saw SEC crypto cases against them dropped, settled on favorable terms, or closed without charges during 2025.[13] The Commission has dropped, settled, or closed without charges nearly every major crypto case it inherited, and it is now trying, for the first time, to write formal rules for the industry instead of regulating it lawsuit by lawsuit in federal court.[13] Three rulemakings covering crypto asset offerings, broker-dealer capital and custody standard

This excerpt was not re-derived from the source page, and may paraphrase or condense it. Check the source before relying on it.