Crypto just received another signal that the U.S. regulatory crackdown is waning. After waging an aggressive legal campaign against Binance for years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to pause its lawsuit for 60 days, according to a Monday court filing.
In the filing, lawyers for the SEC and Binance noted a new crypto task force established by acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda on Jan. 21 may impact the litigation and “facilitate the potential resolution of this case.”
The joint proposal is an about-face for an agency that was once crypto’s biggest cop. And it is yet more evidence that Trump’s administration will be a friendlier regime for crypto than Biden’s.
“We are grateful to Interim Chairman Uyeda for his thoughtful approach to ensuring digital assets receive the appropriate legislative and regulatory focus in this new, golden era of blockchain,” said a Binance spokesperson. “The SEC’s case has always been without merit, and we are eager to put this behind us and to continue our focus on keeping Binance the most secure, licensed, and trusted exchange in the world.”
The SEC declined to comment.
Crypto crackdown
Under previous chair Gary Gensler, the SEC launched a barrage of lawsuits against some of the most well-known firms in crypto.
The regulator sued crypto exchanges Gemini and Kraken, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, and then, in June 2023, targeted perhaps the two best-known firms in the industry: Binance and Coinbase. In its lawsuit against Binance, the SEC alleged that the exchange had violated U.S. securities law in 13 separate charges.
In November 2023, the Department of Justice struck a landmark $4.3 billion settlement with Binance over the company’s alleged violations of U.S. money-laundering laws and economic sanctions. The SEC didn’t join the settlement and didn’t shelve its lawsuit against Binance.
The crux of the agency’s complaints was that, other than Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies were akin to securities. Therefore, cryptocurrencies were subject to the same laws that govern stocks and bonds, according to the SEC’s legal analysis.
The crypto industry has long vehemently disagreed with this assessment and, in the run-up to the 2024 elections, the crypto industry launched a full-scale lobbying campaign to elect pro-crypto politicians. In total, lobbyists donated $133 million to help sway the 2024 elections, according to crypto researcher Molly White.
As crypto became an issue on the ballot, Trump became more vocal in his support of the industry. At a Bitcoin conference in July, he declared that he was a “pro-Bitcoin president.”
Since his inauguration, Trump has followed through on his promises to the crypto industry. He’s released Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, whose dark web marketplace helped launch Bitcoin onto the national stage. And he’s signed an executive order that asks the government to explore the addition of a national digital asset stockpile.
Paul Atkins, his nominee to lead the SEC, is also a crypto supporter.
