During the Trump administration, the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected cryptocurrency lawsuits at a considerably greater rate than matters involving other parts of securities law.
According to a Sunday article, since US President Donald Trump took office in January, the SEC has suspended, discontinued, or dismissed around 60% of lawsuits involving cryptocurrency firms and projects. The story referenced high-profile examples, like the SEC’s charges against Ripple Labs and Binance, and said that the financial authority was “no longer actively pursuing a single case against a firm with known Trump ties.”
The SEC informed that the decision to drop investigations and charges was made for legal and policy reasons, and that political favoritism had “nothing to do” with their crypto enforcement approach. The news organization said that it has not discovered any proof that Trump had put pressure on the agency to abandon investigations or prosecutions.
In reaction Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, stated, “[the idea that the regulatory pivot on crypto over the last year is somehow because of the president’s personal interest, and not because the prior regulatory posture was absolutely insane.” “It is dishonest framing that disregards four years of direct attacks by the real partisans.”
In 2025, the Trump family’s involvement in the digital asset market has increased dramatically. Organizations associated with the president or his family are involved in a number of cryptocurrency-related projects, such as World Liberty Financial, Trump’s memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP), and the president’s sons’ Bitcoin (BTC) mining business, American Bitcoin.
In a few weeks, the remaining Democratic SEC commissioner will depart the organization
Paul Atkins of the SEC will probably continue to serve as the commission’s head for many years, but the agency will lose its only Democratic member when her tenure ends in 2024.
After serving 18 months over the end of her original term, Caroline Crenshaw is anticipated to leave the SEC in January. As of the time of writing, Trump has not disclosed any possible candidates to take Crenshaw’s position or fill the other Democratic vacancy at the regulatory body.
Crenshaw has frequently criticized the agency’s handling of digital assets during the Trump administration, in contrast to Atkins and other Republican commissioners. Last week, during one of her last public appearances as the agency’s commissioner, Crenshaw stated that relaxing cryptocurrency laws would “lead to more significant market contagion.”
