A little more than a month after Trump’s second administration, the cryptography industry seems to be ready to win another victory in its long -standing showdown with regulators – perhaps its most important to date. On February 21, the Chief Legal Director of Coinbase, Paul Grewal, announced via a blog post that the American commission for securities and exchange (“dry”) should abandon its implementing measures for the company. The trial, which said that the company had not responded to the registration requirements, was one of the most prominent cryptographic cases of the SEC.
The post said that the SEC had “agreed in principle” to reject the case. The action must always be approved by the three SEC SUPPROVAL CULTS, in particular Commissioner Hester Peirce and the acting president Mark Uyeda, who both expressed user -friendly views.
This evolution comes from the announcements of other cryptographic companies revealing that the SEC has voluntarily closed surveys on their activities. On February 21, Opensea, the largest NFT market, announced via a position on X that the SEC had closed an investigation into its operations. On February 24, the cryptographic branch of the Robinhood commercial platform announced that the SEC had closed its investigation into the company.
Context of the case
The SEC filed its implementing measures against Coinbase in June 2023 under the former president Gary Gensler, alleging that the Crypto platform violated the securities laws by not being part of as a broker, exchange and compensation agency, as well as certain alleged offers and sales of titles thanks to its staging program. The case was focused on the longtime debate on the question of whether digital assets should be classified as titles. Although the company was continuing an interlocutory examination of this issue at the American Court of Appeal for the second circuit, the apparent decision of the dry from eliminating the case would prevent a confrontation on appeal.
A change of regulatory approach
The acting president, Mark Uyeda, declared his objective of developing a “reasonable regulatory path” for digital assets, moving away from the aggressive application tactics observed under the former president Gensler. Uyeda reforms include:
- Establish a “crypto working group” Directed by Commissioner Peirce to combat digital asset policies and pursue greater regulatory clarity. For more details on the initiatives of the Crypto Task Force, consult our previous discussion here.
- Replace cryptographic assets of the dry and cyberA smaller team targeting the fault linked to the cyber. Commissioner Peirce said in a recent declaration that, although the SEC aims to provide greater legal clarity, it will not give crypto projects a free pass. She expressed that the agency’s objective was to “travel to a destination where people have great freedom to experience and build interesting things” without tolerance for “liars, cheaters and crooks”.
- Take a break or revision of several cases of current cryptographyindicating that the agency is open to stopping certain questions of the active application or in pursuit of constructive resolutions.
Ahead
The will of the dry to move away from the investigations and actions being executed underlines the evolution of the regulatory landscape of the crypto within the framework of the current administration. Rather than “slamming the application brakes”, as Commissioner Peirce said, the agency now seems determined to work with stakeholders to develop prospective legislation and a clearer regulatory framework for the emerging industry.
For cryptographic companies that sail on uncertain regulatory waters, this development can point out the beginning of a more collaborative era – but not one without examination. Commissioner Peirce warned that “the rules of the dry will not allow you to do what you want, when you wish, as you wish. Some of these rules will impose costs and other charges of conformity. . . And the Commission will use its application tools when necessary to continue non-compliance. “While the Crypto working group advances its work, additional developments in the regulations and the application of cryptography are expected in the coming months.
