Regulation by enforcement against the US crypto industry continues to fall away. In recent weeks a raft of enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) have been ended, we summarise them below:
Coinbase
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that the long-standing SEC lawsuit against the exchange will be dismissed with no penalties and with prejudice (meaning that the SEC cannot bring this claim again against Coinbase).
In 2022, the SEC began investigating Coinbase Coinbase for allegedly dealing in unregistered securities, eventually leading to a lawsuit claiming Coinbase was operating as an unregistered broker. The case became a major battleground in the broader fight over crypto regulation in the US, with Coinbase pushing back by suing the SEC for failing to provide clear regulatory guidelines - An action Coinbase eventually won.
After a prolonged legal battle, the SEC has now backed down, agreeing to a full dismissal with $0 in fines.
The SEC's retreat extends beyond Coinbase however:
OpenSea
NFT marketplace OpenSea was also under scrutiny after receiving a Wells Notice, signaling potential enforcement action for allegedly offering unregistered securities. However, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the SEC has closed its investigation with no enforcement action.
Robinhood and Uniswap
Similarly, Robinhood and Uniswap, both of which had faced SEC scrutiny for their crypto-related offerings, have seen cases against them dropped. In the case of Robinhood a Wells Notice had been previously issued alleging that Robinhood had been listing securities on their platform. Dan Gallagher, Chief Legal Officer at Robinhood said:
We applaud the staff’s decision to close this investigation with no action. Let me be crystal clear—this investigation never should have been opened. Robinhood Crypto always has and will always respect federal securities laws and never allowed transactions in securities. As we explained to the SEC, any case against Robinhood Crypto would have failed. We appreciate the formal closing of this investigation, and we are happy to see a return to the rule of law and commitment to fairness at the SEC.
Gemini
A probe into Gemini was also dismissed with Cameron Winklevoss saying on X:
The SEC cost us tens of millions of dollars in legal bills alone and hundreds of millions in lost productivity, creativity, and innovation...The SEC’s behavior in aggregate towards other crypto companies and projects cost orders of magnitude more and caused unquantifiable loss in economic growth for America.
A shift in approach?
The dismissal of these cases suggests a broader policy shift within the SEC, signaling that its aggressive regulatory stance may be winding down.
While the SEC appears to be stepping back from its contentious “regulation by enforcement” approach, it is not abandoning oversight entirely. Instead, the agency has announced the creation of a new Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, which will focus on combating fraud in digital assets rather than pursuing regulatory actions against legitimate crypto firms. This could mark a shift towards a more balanced regulatory framework that targets bad actors rather than stifling innovation.
These rapid developments suggest that the SEC, under acting Chair Mark Uyeda may be retreating from its heavy-handed enforcement strategy that has dominated the past few years. The crypto industry has long called for clearer regulatory frameworks, and the swift resolution of these cases could signal a willingness to engage in more constructive policymaking.
This hopefully marks the death of regulation by enforcement in the US and the beginning of a new era of crypto regulation—one focused on transparency, engagement, and fraud prevention rather than indiscriminate crackdowns. This doesn't mean that crypto is legal in the USA, and there will be some delay before any possible crypto legislation/regulation is considered by Congress.
By Steven Pettigrove, Luke Misthos and Michael Bacina