Since US President Donald Trump assumed workplace, the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) has dropped, settled, or paused lawsuits towards outstanding crypto entities left and proper. In stark distinction to the earlier administration’s management underneath Chair Gary Gensler, the SEC appears to be parting from its earlier crackdown on digital belongings.
In an interview with BeInCrypto, Nick Puckrin, Founding father of The Coin Bureau, and Hank Huang, Chief Government Officer at Kronos Analysis, highlighted the substantial election affect the crypto business had over Trump’s candidacy as a contributing issue to the SEC’s looser stance on crypto.
The SEC’s Method Underneath Trump
The SEC has skilled a transparent shift in its method to crypto lawsuits underneath Trump’s presidency. Its transfer away from the aggressive enforcement techniques of its earlier management has largely characterised this shift.
“When President Donald Trump won the US election, the crypto industry rejoiced. Finally, the ‘regulation by enforcement’ era, which the SEC under the leadership of Gary Gensler was so famous for, was about to come to an end. And the new administration didn’t disappoint. Within just a couple of weeks of Trump’s inauguration, the revamped SEC started dropping lawsuits against crypto firms left, right and center,” Puckrin stated.
Two weeks in the past, the SEC formally dropped its attraction and XRP lawsuit towards Ripple Labs, ending a five-year authorized battle. The Fee had initially accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities providing price $1.3 billion by XRP gross sales.
“After more than four years in limbo, the SEC has officially decided that XRP is not a security (though what it is instead remains to be seen). This case has been weighing heavily on XRP – the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of roughly $130 billion– so its resolution is a major win,” Puckrin added.
The broader crypto neighborhood celebrated the result, with many arguing that it’ll set a precedent for the way digital belongings are categorized within the US. This prediction is warranted, provided that the SEC has been on a lawsuit-dropping spree.
Ripple and Coinbase Circumstances Mark Vital Wins
Shortly earlier than ending the Ripple lawsuit, the SEC dropped its authorized battle towards Coinbase. The case additionally centered on whether or not Coinbase ought to be categorized as a safety.
“The SEC is clearly retreating from its once-aggressive stance on crypto, as seen in its 2025 dismissal of lawsuits against Ripple, Coinbase, and others. This shift, driven by the crypto-friendly and pro-business Trump administration, signals a future of more streamlined and transparent US crypto regulation,” Huang informed BeInCrypto.
The SEC has additionally dropped a number of ongoing investigations towards OpenSea, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, Kraken, and Gemini. It has additionally requested a federal court docket to challenge a 60-day pause over its litigation towards Binance. In the meantime, the Fee settled its investigation into ConsenSys over its Ethereum software program merchandise.
These lawsuits surfaced in parallel to a collection of crypto-friendly measures meant to foster higher innovation and curb potential regulatory suffocation that had existed through the Biden period.
Will New Management Outline Clear Crypto Laws?
A day after Trump assumed workplace, SEC Performing Chairman Mark Uyeda introduced the creation of a devoted crypto process pressure led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. The duty pressure was reportedly designed to resolve long-standing ambiguities within the regulatory remedy of digital belongings.
In all SEC crypto lawsuits, Commissioner Uyeda has carried out a technique prioritizing business engagement to develop regulatory frameworks that steadiness innovation and investor safety.
In the meantime, Trump strategically nominated Paul Atkins, a crypto-curious, regulation-light candidate, to switch Gensler as head of the SEC. Simply this week, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance Atkins’ nomination to the total Senate.
“Driven by Republican principles, the SEC under Trump could implement clearer crypto guidelines by 2025, reduce regulatory burdens, and roll back Biden-era policies that have stifled innovation by 2027. This could mark the beginning of treating most digital assets as commodities,” Huang stated.
Now, solely a stone’s throw away from changing into SEC Chair, Atkins is anticipated to loosen regulatory oversight on crypto.
“With the establishment of a new Task Force and key appointees like Paul Atkins fostering innovation, Trump’s strategic move to create a Bitcoin reserve within the government further underscores his commitment to supporting the industry. The future of crypto regulations will be focused on less oversight and the beginning of a delicate but promising thaw in the regulatory landscape,” Huang added.
Although some say Trump’s dealing with of crypto affairs has resulted in a never-before-seen triumph, others are weary that his rising involvement within the business has turned out to be a recipe for catastrophe.
The Impression of Crypto Donations on Laws
A number of business leaders went to nice lengths to make sure that Trump grew to become America’s forty seventh president. Thousands and thousands of {dollars} in donations from crypto corporations all through Trump’s marketing campaign illustrated these efforts.
In accordance with a Public Citizen report, over $119 million from crypto companies went into influencing the 2024 federal elections, largely by Fairshake, a non-partisan tremendous PAC backing pro-crypto candidates and opposing skeptics.
Coinbase and Ripple, amongst others who stand to revenue, instantly supplied over half of Fairshake’s funding. The remaining funds largely got here from billionaire crypto executives and enterprise capitalists. Notable contributions included $44 million from the founders of Andreessen Horowitz, $5 million from the Winklevoss twins, and $1 million from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Thus far, massive crypto’s spending technique is paying off with a extra favorable surroundings.
“Political donations from the crypto industry during the 2024 election, particularly to pro-crypto candidates like Trump, played a significant role in shaping the SEC’s 2025 decision to drop lawsuits against crypto firms. These contributions helped align the administration with the industry’s interests and influenced Congress, driving about 50-60% of the shift,” Huang informed BeInCrypto.
And not using a clear framework to information the crypto business following these dropped lawsuits, this lax method dangers being short-lived. In the end, this might tarnish long-term crypto adoption.
Meme Coin Scams Spotlight Deregulation Risks
In accordance with Puckrin, the success of the dropped lawsuits was obscured by the shortage of laws which have led to the proliferation of high-profile meme coin scams.
“Somehow, all these victories feel somewhat hollow after the reputation of the crypto industry has been tarnished by the billions of dollars in combined losses from meme coin scams. Meanwhile, Hayden Davis, the mastermind behind LIBRA, continues to launch fraudulent meme tokens, despite being on the Interpol wanted list,” he stated.
A 2024 report by Web3 intelligence platform Merkle Science revealed that meme coin rug pulls value buyers over $500 million. The February LIBRA incident confirmed how this development was carried over to 2025. Nansen information revealed that 86% of buyers misplaced $251 million, whereas insiders pocketed $180 million in income.
Although crypto scammers could also be charged with associated crimes like wire fraud or cash laundering, rug pulling is authorized. Higher stated, it’s unaccounted for. No regulation holds crypto insiders liable for meme coin scams.
“As crypto becomes an ever more mainstream asset class, consumers need to be protected against those who choose to use it for nefarious purposes. One way to do this is through education, and that’s our job as an industry. But deterring scams and extractive behavior is the job of the regulators. And it’s time they stepped up to the task,” Puckrin informed BeInCrypto.
If the SEC doesn’t benefit from this chance to curb the results that meme coin scams can produce, it is going to end in an infinite setback for the business.
Complete Regulation Past Dropped Lawsuits
Puckrin illustrated the necessity for heightened regulatory readability in crypto by drawing consideration to the way in which the SEC penalizes insider buying and selling within the context of conventional investing.
“In traditional investing, insider trading is a serious crime. In the US, it’s punishable by fines of up to $5 million for individuals and prison sentences up to 20 years. Similarly, federal penalties for engaging with illegal gambling activities include up to five years in prison. Perpetrators of memecoin scams must be punished with the same level of severity, because the result is the same: manipulating markets and cheating unsuspecting investors out of their savings,” he stated.
Puckrin clarified, nonetheless, that the difficulty isn’t solely about penalizing fraudsters. Simply because the SEC’s previous overregulation hindered the business, the present lack of meme coin guidelines creates an surroundings the place new scams and exploitative schemes can simply flourish.
“Yes, the removal of lawsuits is great news for blockchain innovation, but something needs to replace it. Indeed, serious cryptocurrency firms have never advocated for an unregulated Wild West. What they want is clarity and rules that are fit for the nascent blockchain industry – not just a copy-and-paste of existing financial regulations that simply don’t work for crypto,” he stated.
Though the Trump administration has solely been in place for 4 months, the clock is ticking, and significant change takes time.
Unanswered Questions Loom
Puckrin expressed concern over the present administration’s prioritization of lawsuit dismissals as an alternative of working quicker to implement transcendental crypto regulation.
“My concern is that regulators will keep kicking the can down the road with crypto regulation, having gained the approval of the industry for dropping the many lawsuits that were stifling its growth. And this is incredibly dangerous,” he informed BeInCrypto.
In the meantime, essential questions that solely the SEC can outline stay unanswered.
“What are memecoins and who will ensure another LIBRA fiasco doesn’t happen? Are utility altcoins now commodities and if so, will the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulate them? And, importantly, what do we do about compensating investors who have lost billions to crypto fraud?” Puckrin concluded.
The SEC’s present path guarantees a regulated renaissance or a breeding floor for future crises.
With billions misplaced and significant questions unanswered, the way forward for crypto hinges on whether or not the regulatory physique will translate its current shift into an enduring framework that fosters innovation with out sacrificing investor safety.
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