The US Securities and Exchange Commission has scaled back its crypto enforcement agenda a year into Donald Trump’s second presidency, dropping major cases and shifting towards more targeted action.
The most recent move saw the SEC dismiss its Gemini Earn lawsuit after investors received a full in-kind return of assets, adding to at least 17 crypto-related cases closed or dropped so far.
Industry figures say the agency now favours enforcement focused on clear investor harm rather than broad or symbolic legal battles that defined the previous regulatory approach.
The Gemini Earn case, first filed in 2023 over alleged unregistered securities linked to a high-yield lending product, followed years of negotiations and the bankruptcy of partner Genesis Global Capital.
The SEC has also ended investigations or actions against firms including Coinbase, Binance, Ripple, Kraken, Uniswap, OpenSea and PayPal, with most cases closed without penalties.
“The SEC is recalibrating its enforcement playbook, moving away from headline driven crypto cases,”
Said Leo Fan, founder and chief executive of on-chain compute platform Cysic.
Observers say the shift reflects new leadership under SEC chair Paul Atkins and coincides with legislative clarity such as the passage of the GENIUS Act, signalling a more restrained regulatory posture toward crypto.