As a seasoned crypto investor with a decade of experience navigating the digital asset landscape, I find myself both alarmed and unsurprised by the SEC’s relentless pursuit of penalties against cryptocurrency companies. Having witnessed the evolution of regulatory scrutiny since 2013, it seems that the SEC is indeed living up to its reputation as the crypto industry’s sternest overseer.
This year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has established a fresh benchmark in imposing fines on cryptocurrency-related businesses, as reported by Social Capital.
Starting from 2013, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began overseeing the cryptocurrency sector, it has amassed a fine total of around $7.42 billion. In the year 2024 alone, the SEC has levied approximately $4.7 billion in penalties, which constitutes about 68% of the entire sum.
This year’s biggest agreement amounted to a staggering $4.68 billion with Terraform Labs, the entity responsible for the Terra cryptocurrency.
The $4.68 billion settlement surpasses the $4.3 billion agreement that took place in 2023 between the U.S. Justice Department and cryptocurrency trading platform Binance.
2024 saw the SEC initiating 11 legal actions against cryptocurrency firms, while the previous year, 2023, was particularly active with a total of 30 lawsuits being filed by the SEC and recovering approximately $150 million through settlements.
The trend of enhanced penalties kicked off in 2018 as the SEC started levying heavier fines on digital asset companies. By the year 2019, these fines significantly escalated, with a significant contributor being a $1.2 billion penalty against Telegram’s cryptocurrency project (TON). This escalation has persisted under the leadership of SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to work on regulating cryptocurrencies, a move some within the crypto industry refer to as “Operation Choke Point 2.0.” This regulation has sparked legal conflicts with prominent companies like Coinbase and Ripple. Gary Gensler, SEC chairman, argues that numerous digital assets should be classified as securities and must abide by federal regulations.
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2024-09-10 04:20