Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Golem (@web3_golem)

Although the recent crypto market sentiment has shown a downward trend, with Bitcoin dropping more than 10% in the past 7 days and its market capitalization falling out of the top 10 global assets, there has been a positive trend in crypto regulation.

Even before Trump officially took office, crypto advocacy organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce had listed the important first-day agenda for the new SEC as initiating a review of all existing crypto-related investigations, Wells notices, and ongoing litigation cases, and seeking to stay those cases that do not involve actual fraud or investor harm.

On January 20, 2025, Gary Gensler, who had been in charge of the U.S. SEC for 4 years, officially stepped down, and Mark Uyeda has been serving as the acting SEC chairman since then. Within just one month, the new SEC administration fulfilled its promise and reversed the tough regulatory stance towards crypto companies that Gensler had taken during his tenure, first resolving and withdrawing a batch of crypto litigation cases. Odaily has compiled them in the chart below:

Crypto Companies: Perseverance for Years Finally Sees the Dawn

Before the settlements and withdrawals, many crypto companies had been engaged in a "war" with the U.S. SEC for years.

The dispute between Coinbase and the U.S. SEC can be traced back to 2021. In September 2021, the SEC issued a Wells notice to Coinbase regarding its lending business Coinbase Lend (an informal warning issued by the SEC to U.S. listed companies before initiating civil litigation, allowing the listed company to communicate and negotiate with the SEC before receiving the formal lawsuit). At the time, Coinbase did not choose to confront the SEC, but instead announced the cancellation of its planned crypto lending project.

However, in March 2023, the SEC issued another Wells notice to Coinbase, warning that it had found the company's conduct may have violated U.S. securities laws, focusing on staking services and asset listings. Faced with this litigation, Coinbase did not choose to back down, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stating at the time that "Coinbase will have to prepare for a court battle that could last for years, and if the situation worsens, it will consider making more investments overseas, including moving from the U.S. to other places."

Uniswap and OpenSea are also among those with the same tough attitude as Coinbase.

In April 2024, Uniswap received a Wells notice from the SEC and clearly stated that it would "fight back to the end": "We must fight the U.S. government agency to protect our company and the industry. This battle will last for years, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court, and the future of fintech and our industry is in jeopardy."

In August of the same year, OpenSea also received a Wells notice from the SEC, accusing it of operating as an unregistered securities trading platform and seeking to classify NFTs as securities. OpenSea also chose to stand up and fight for the industry, and to help ensure that creators can continue to create without fear, OpenSea at the time provided $5 million to pay the legal fees of NFT artists and developers who had also received Wells notices.

In fact, litigation against the SEC is not an easy task. As Uniswap co-founder Hayden Adams responded when the SEC dropped its investigation of Uniswap on February 26, "The SEC's previous investigation lasted three years, wasting a lot of time and millions of dollars, and had a significant impact on the company."

The human and financial pressures involved in litigation are not something that ordinary companies can bear, and some crypto companies did not survive to see this day of vindication.

For example, the stablecoin issuer Paxos, which in February 2023 jointly issued the stablecoin BUSD with Binance, received a Wells notice from the SEC accusing BUSD of being an unregistered security. On the same day, Paxos was forced to stop issuing BUSD under pressure from the New York Department of Financial Services, and although Paxos had also fought back, arguing that BUSD was not a "security" and planned to sue the SEC, it ultimately could not withstand the pressure, and Binance also announced the gradual removal of BUSD in November 2023. Ironically, in July 2024, the SEC dropped its investigation of Paxos and determined that BUSD was not a security.

The Spring of Crypto Regulation Has Arrived

The two most important promises that the crypto market needed Trump to fulfill were the establishment of a Bitcoin strategic reserve and the reversal of the SEC's regulatory stance towards crypto. While the progress of Bitcoin strategic reserve approvals across states has not been optimistic, the SEC's attitude towards crypto has visibly improved.

The SEC's withdrawal of litigation has already set a precedent, and after the lawsuits against Coinbase and Robinhood were withdrawn, exchanges like Binance and Kraken may also see a turnaround, as the lawsuits against these platforms were based on the same regulatory logic as the Coinbase case. Meanwhile, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett revealed, given the SEC's recent focus on staking businesses, the agency may re-examine the lawsuit it filed against ConsenSys last year over its MetaMask staking service.

The SEC's mass withdrawal of lawsuits will also benefit tokens that were previously considered securities, including BNB, SOL, ADA, and may even usher in a new "policy bull" market. The spring of crypto regulation has arrived, and the crypto industry has taken another step towards gaining recognition in the traditional world.