January 03, 2025
Our Correspondent
As the inauguration of a new presidential administration and Congress in the United States approaches, many stakeholders within the digital asset sector are contemplating the potential for more favorable regulatory frameworks under the incoming leadership.
For certain executives, any shifts in governmental policy may soon be reflected in the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Under the leadership of Chair Gary Gensler and his predecessor Jay Clayton, the SEC has initiated multiple enforcement actions against American cryptocurrency companies, citing allegations of unregistered securities offerings, including notable cases against Ripple and Coinbase.
In a post on X dated December 31, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, expressed his hope that the SEC would uphold what he views as fundamental principles regarding the regulation of digital assets, specifically asserting that “a token is never a security, although it can be the subject of a security transaction.”
Currently, Ripple is appealing a judgment from August 2024, which deemed the company liable for $125 million in its ongoing litigation with the SEC.
Similarly, Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbase, appeared to endorse the implications of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine in 2024. This ruling eliminated the precedent that allowed courts to defer to agency interpretations of laws and regulations, mandating that judges exercise their independent judgment. This change could influence how judges approach SEC cases related to digital assets.
Several legal disputes involving the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against cryptocurrency firms are anticipated to progress in 2025.
Following a year of sentencing former executives of FTX and the incarceration of former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao for four months, US authorities are now turning their attention to the criminal cases involving former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, who was recently extradited from Montenegro.
Any shifts in leadership at the US Attorney’s office in New York, which oversees numerous civil and criminal cases related to cryptocurrency firms and their executives, or at the SEC or CFTC, could significantly alter the trajectory of ongoing cases.
Donald Trump has already suggested appointing former commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as SEC chair and proposing Jay Clayton as the new US Attorney for the Southern District of New York in place of Damian Williams.
