• Under Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda, the SEC has softened its stance, dropping its appeal against the Blockchain Association’s challenge to the expanded dealer rule.
  • The rule, criticized for indirectly regulating crypto trading firms, is seen as part of broader regulatory changes under the Trump administration.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been choosing which cases to halt, starting with those with the earliest deadlines, says Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett. That focus could be why the actions against Ripple and Kraken continue, Terrett wrote on February 19, based on anonymous sources.

SEC to Pause Crypto Lawsuit Saga?

Ripple, the firm behind the XRP Ledger blockchain, does not have a court deadline until April 16, whereas the next court deadline for cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is March 31, Terrett said, as mentioned in our previous story. Coinbase and Binance, two other large crypto companies involved in court cases with the SEC, have deadlines of March 14 and April 14, respectively.

“It’s possible SEC leadership is expecting Donald Trump’s pick for chair Paul Atkins to be on his way to getting confirmed by that time,” Terrett said in her post on X. She further noted:

crypto task force, Congress and the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets are presumably working to fill the regulatory gaps that led to these lawsuits being brought in the first place.

Since 2021, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have pursued sweeping legal action against the crypto sector. They have collectively filed more than 100 suits against digital asset companies for purported rule breaches.

In line with this enforcement strategy, the SEC brought suit against Kraken in 2023, alleging that the exchange operated as an unregistered securities broker. The same year, Coinbase was also sued for supposedly operating without registering as a broker, national securities exchange, or clearing agency. 

Both firms were previously under the regulator’s sights for providing crypto staking services to U.S. clients, which the regulator claimed were unregistered securities offerings. Moreover, Ripple, which has been locked in a court fight with the SEC since 2020, is accused of breaking securities laws by selling XRP as an unregistered security.

The agency has now started taking positive steps towards the digital assets industry. The SEC, led by Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda, dropped its appeal in the lawsuit filed last April by the Blockchain Association and Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas, which challenged the agency’s expanded dealer rule. Also, as noted earlier, expectations are high that under the new leadership, the Ripple lawsuit could end soon. 

Terrett added,

The rule would have expanded the definition of a dealer to include high-frequency trading firms and certain crypto hedge funds among others. It was seen by the industry as an indirect way of regulating crypto trading firms.

Impact Of Change In SEC’s Leadership

With the change of administration, crackdown on crypto companies seems to be winding down. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is now completing a second term, has indicated a friendly crypto attitude. His government has vowed to wind down regulatory enforcement and make America “the world’s crypto capital.” As part of this policy, Trump has nominated former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins to head the agency.

Since Trump assumed a second term on January 20, 2025, regulatory actions against crypto companies have begun reversing. Just 10 days later, on January 30, Kraken reinstated its staking facility for American users, something that it had withdrawn earlier amid SEC enforcement action.