The U.S. SEC’s move to scale back crypto enforcement became evident in court through a filing to settle its case against Binance.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, Binance, and Changpeng Zhao, the company’s founder, have reportedly submitted a joint application for a 60 days pause in an effort to settle the legal dispute without further proceedings.
This information is based on a court filing regarding the matter. In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Binance and Zhao, saying that they had violated federal securities laws.
During the time when former SEC chair Gary Gensler was intensifying his campaign on businesses dealing in digital assets, Coinbase, another prominent cryptocurrency platform, was subjected to similar allegations.
Documents that were submitted to a court in the United States stated that the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, which was initiated by interim head Mark Uyeda, has the ability to assist in “the potential resolution of this case.”
The announcement of the task group was made on January 21, one day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Staff members of the Securities and Exchange Commission were reportedly given instructions to reevaluate current litigation against cryptocurrency platforms and to deprioritize instances that did not constitute fraud.
The chief crypto prosecutor at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jorge Tenreiro, was even moved from the legal division to the information technology department as part of the organizational reorganization that took place under Trump.
With the news of Tenreiro’s reassignment and the SEC’s turn away from aggressive crypto enforcement, there is a growing sense of hope regarding the possibility of clearer regulations emerging under the leadership of the next White House.
Industry leaders such as Binance and Coinbase have been lobbying the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and legislators for a transparent regulatory environment for a number of years.
Both Trump’s return and Gensler’s resignation have indicated that the United States government is shifting its attitude toward one that is more favorable to cryptocurrency.
David Sacks, the Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency at the White House, acknowledged President Trump’s interest in creating “common sense” laws to protect investors and boost the use of blockchain technology during a news conference.
