SEC Storm?

The widespread pullback of SEC caseload in crypto is advancing at a somewhat astonishing pace. From SEC Crypto Cases On Hold While Task Force Eyes Broad Overhaul (Bloomberg) we quickly reach the acute commentary of John Reed Stark via LinkedIn (The SEC’s Frantic And Unprecedented Rampage To Dismantle Its Crypto-Enforcement Program Continues: This Time, Halting Two SEC Appeals Dead In Their Tracks (Buckle Up XRP Army, The Ripple Appeal Has Got To Be Next On the SEC Chopping Block)) who notes:

“What’s Next? It's the perfect storm at the SEC: A President who does not trust the SEC; A crypto czar who has no respect for the SEC; And a DOGE Director who hates the SEC. This is not good for SEC staff. In fact, a DOGE team will reportedly be knocking at the SEC door any minute and an SEC RIF together with a broad and sweeping reorganization seems imminent.

Buckle Up, Get the Popcorn and Get Ready For The SEC Funeral. Never before in the history of the SEC has this kind of radical turnabout in SEC enforcement policy ever taken place. My guess is that all SEC crypto-related investigations have already been secretly "paused" and that SEC crypto-enforcement resources have already been shifted to other priorities.”

See also, SEC Replaces Crypto Enforcement Team With Smaller ‘Cyber’ Unit (Bloomberg Law) / SEC Replaces Gensler’s Crypto Unit With Generalized Web3 Enforcement (Beincrypto) / Crypto Critic Laments ‘SEC Funeral’ As Gensler’s Enforcement Unit Closes And Major Cases Stop (DL News).

The net net: specious actions deserve to be stopped but fighting fraud is a prima facie duty for any financial regulator and it’s not clear giving a vast broad space to crypto is going to work out. Right now it looks as if a bludgeoning top-down approach is not clearly discerning between the two. What’s worse, we even have the wretched SBF hoping he can appeal to Trump’s vanity for the family approach to fainting a pardon: Sam Bankman-Fried Rips Biden Over ‘Politicization’ Of DOJ, Warms To Trump: ‘Republican Party Was Far More Reasonable’.

Meanwhile, the pardon express also moves on to others: Ross Ulbricht Calls For ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Roger Ver To Be Freed Next (Cointelegraph).

While Coinbase Says The SEC Has Agreed To End Enforcement Case Against Crypto Exchange (CNBC) we also hear "You Can Land Up In Jail": Coinbase CEO Warns Against Memecoins (The Crypto Times).

Net net, it’s not unreasonable for the “Brussels Bugle” to be suggesting: Time For The SEC To Get Serious On Crypto (FT).