An SEC overhaul was one of many crypto {industry}’s main expectations upon lobbying for — and finally attaining — an administration change.
Whereas the Trump-Zelensky assembly fallout, the president’s crypto reserve announcement and tariffs have commanded headlines in latest days, the US securities regulator continues to share industry-changing information.
The most recent improvement? The SEC closed its investigation into Yuga Labs, which the corporate known as “a huge win for NFTs” in a Tuesday tweet. It added succinctly: “NFTs are not securities.”
Let’s map out the numerous different SEC actions since Trump’s election victory on Nov. 6:
The set-up
Nov. 21: SEC Chair Gary Gensler says he’ll depart the company on Jan. 20.
Dec. 4: Trump nominates Paul Atkins to steer the SEC. He’s not but confirmed as chair, however that hasn’t held again the fee like some thought it’d.
Jan. 20: Gensler certainly steps down as chair.
Jan. 21: Trump names Mark Uyeda performing chair.
Jan. 21: The SEC reveals a brand new crypto activity power (led by Hester Peirce) “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”
Steering, swimsuit dismissals, ended probes, oh my.
Jan. 23: SEC releases SAB 122, rescinding SAB 121. Business watchers say the transfer might pave the best way for banks and brokers to custody spot crypto.
Feb. 4: Peirce lays out the SEC’s crypto-focused priorities, noting it’ll take time to “disentangle all these strands.”
Feb. 13: A federal decide pauses the SEC’s civil lawsuit towards Binance for 60 days.
Feb. 20: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reveals the SEC’s choice to drop its litigation with the crypto change.
Feb. 21: The SEC ends its investigation into NFT platform OpenSea, CEO Devin Finzer shares.
Feb. 21: Robinhood additionally will get phrase from the SEC that the company has closed its probe into the corporate. No supposed enforcement motion.
Feb. 21: One other Peirce assertion urges public enter to attain crypto regulatory readability on quite a lot of questions. Some for the {industry} to ponder on safety standing, for instance:
Feb. 24: The SEC concludes its probe into Gemini. Additionally no deliberate motion.
Feb. 24: One other closed investigation with related end result. This time the one into Uniswap Labs.
Feb. 27: Consensys and the SEC agree the securities enforcement case regarding MetaMask must be dismissed.
Feb. 27: The SEC notes its choice to dismiss the Coinbase swimsuit is to “renew its regulatory approach to the crypto industry” relatively than “any assessment of the merits of the claims alleged in the action.”
Feb. 27: SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw says the SEC’s Coinbase dismissal “ignores 80 years of well-established law.” She provides: “Whatever the law may be tomorrow, market participants should not be able to avoid the law as it stands today.”
Feb. 27: A busy day, the SEC additionally addresses memecoins. It believes “transactions in the types of memecoins described in this statement do not involve the offer and sale of securities under the federal securities laws.”
Then this week, a number of issues preceded the aforementioned Yuga Labs information. The SEC agreed “in principle” and “with prejudice” to drop its lawsuit towards Kraken.
Peirce then revealed members of the crypto activity power. Chief of workers Richard Gabbert is a senior adviser to Uyeda and has served as counsel to Peirce since 2018.
Oh, and the SEC has all of the whereas been acknowledging numerous crypto ETF proposals holding belongings past BTC and ETH. A possible good signal for these, however no approvals but.
Aside from ETF selections, we’ll be awaiting any SEC pivot on the Ripple case.
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