Content Warning
The SEC has rapidly been pausing and dropping enforcement cases and investigations against crypto companies, including some of the largest crypto-focused political donors (and those paying Trump in more... creative ways).
A case against Consensys, the makers of the MetaMask crypto wallet, will be dropped shortly by the agency, according to the company.25 Consensys contributed $800,000 to crypto-focused super PACs.
Simultaneously, ongoing investigations of companies including Gemini, OpenSea, Robinhood, and Uniswap have been dropped, despite the agency previously having sent Wells notices signaling impending enforcement action. Gemini’s Winklevoss twins contributed $4.9 million to crypto-focused super PACs and $2.6 million to Trump directly; Robinhood contributed $2 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
![SEC
Trump’s nominee for SEC Chair, Paul Atkins [I71], has not even been confirmed yet, but that hasn’t stopped the agency from barreling ahead with the new administration’s promises to the industry that all their problems would go away.
Most notably, the SEC case against Coinbase was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC cannot refile the case in the future. CEO Brian Armstrong was explicit with his thanks when announcing the dismissal on Twitter: “I have to give credit here to the Trump administration, for winning the election”. He insisted that he believed “we would have won this case in the courts either way”, but noted that Trump’s election “certainly helped accelerate the process”.23 Coinbase has spent $75 million on contributions to crypto-focused super PACs, some apparently in violation of federal election law, and contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
A case against Justin Sun and his Tron project, opened in March 2023 and alleging fraudulent market manipulation “through extensive wash trading”, “orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to tout TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation”, and unregistered securities offerings, has been stayed as parties “consider a potential resolution”.24 As a foreign national, Sun is not permitted to make contributions to American political candidates or committees. However, he has spent $75 million purchasing World Liberty Financial’s WLFI tokens, and Trump personally gets a 75% cut of that project’s re](https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/114/095/867/956/631/439/original/75856fc38c137b55.png)
SEC
Trump’s nominee for SEC Chair, Paul Atkins [I71], has not even been confirmed yet, but that hasn’t stopped the agency from barreling ahead with the new administration’s promises to the industry that all their problems would go away.
Most notably, the SEC case against Coinbase was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the SEC cannot refile the case in the future. CEO Brian Armstrong was explicit with his thanks when announcing the dismissal on Twitter: “I have to give credit here to the Trump administration, for winning the election”. He insisted that he believed “we would have won this case in the courts either way”, but noted that Trump’s election “certainly helped accelerate the process”.23 Coinbase has spent $75 million on contributions to crypto-focused super PACs, some apparently in violation of federal election law, and contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
A case against Justin Sun and his Tron project, opened in March 2023 and alleging fraudulent market manipulation “through extensive wash trading”, “orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to tout TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation”, and unregistered securities offerings, has been stayed as parties “consider a potential resolution”.24 As a foreign national, Sun is not permitted to make contributions to American political candidates or committees. However, he has spent $75 million purchasing World Liberty Financial’s WLFI tokens, and Trump personally gets a 75% cut of that project’s re