The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again published its list of 2025 exam priorities, adding “Crypto Assets” for the second time in a row. Notably, this new exam priorities list has drawn a new round of criticism. This is because even though the US SEC has power to regulate the financial market, many said it has not acted fairly with crypto.
US SEC and the Crypto Regulation Concern
By its assessment in the Exam Priorities List for next year, the regulator acknowledged the fast growth of the broader crypto landscape. As of writing, curated data from CoinMarketCap shows that there are more than 2.4 million assets in the market.
Over the past year, Ordinals inscriptions, memecoins, and Layer-1 and 2 assets have emerged. New Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols, Non-Fungible Token (NFT) projects, and more have also emerged. Drawing on this rapid growth, the US SEC said it will continue to examine the core players in this market.
NEW: A year on, the @SECGov includes #crypto in its list of 2025 exam priorities despite no major crypto participants having registered with the Commission in 2024.
The only crypto assets I can think of that the SEC has interacted with in a regulatory role, not an enforcement… https://t.co/ky6Mf7jvsJ pic.twitter.com/aoVvD9QrqF
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) October 22, 2024
The regulator said part of what it will assess is whether product registrants meet their standard of conduct and compliance practices. From last year till date, the regulator has issued Wells Notices to firms like OpenSea and Uniswap. Despite the no-correlation in their respective product offerings, the regulator considers their services securities offering that might warrant lawsuits.
Other firms have also faced charges and settled along the way. In light of this, Fox Business Journalist Eleanor Terrett noted that only Bitcoin and Ethereum have enjoyed regulatory and not enforcement relationship with the US SEC. Whether or not this will change in the coming years remains unknown.
Can US Presidential Election Change The Game?
With the 2024 US Presidential Elections a few weeks away, the conversation on how this will impact the US SEC has filled discussion boards.
The two top Candidates in question Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have a somewhat different stance regarding the industry. While many considers Donald Trump as the crypto President, Kamala Harris is considered unfriendly based on this administration’s indulgence of the SEC.
Nonetheless, Chris Larsen has donated over $10 million to Kamala Harris Campaign. Donald Trump has also raked in over $7.5 million in crypto donations as industry leaders believe either of the candidates can end the regulation by enforcement tactics of the SEC.
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