Newly elected 47th U.S. President Donald Trump is indeed delivering what he had promised during his presidential election campaign back in 2024, i.e. to make U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) more friendly towards the local crypto industry.
True to his words, under Trump administration, SEC has dropped or stalled cases against some of the biggest crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken and Binance and given clean chit to crypto personalities like Hex founder Richard Heart. There are several others in line, hoping for benevolence from the new SEC team under the Trump administration.
Earlier under the former president Joe Biden administration, the S.E.C’s enforcement campaign was led by its chair, Gary Gensler, who ended up gaining notoriety in the crypto community for his aggressive stance against industry giants like Coinbase and Kraken. Soon, “fire Gary Gensler” became an election campaign call for Donald Trump during the run-up to November 2024 presidential elections.
And indeed, as soon as he assumed office, Trump nominated Paul Atkin Washington, a pro-crypto personality, as the new SEC chair. Even before Washington takes the chair’s position, the SEC has already started withdrawing lawsuits filed against major crypto exchange companies, one after another.
In this article, we will discuss the four big cases SEC was pursuing under Joe Biden administration and how they were dropped after Trump assumed office.
Coinbase
Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in U.S, first locked horns with SEC as early as 2021 when the latter had threatened to sue Coinbase over them launching a cryptocurrency lending token service called “lend”. Later under pressure, Coinbase withdrew the program.
Then, in 2023, under Gary Gensler, the SEC sued Coinbase, alleging that the company was acting as an unregistered broker via crypto exchange, and demanded that they stopped operations completely.
Finally, in February 2025, as per the reports, Coinbase said that the SEC had agreed to drop its lawsuit against the company, which was filed against them under the Biden administration for operating as an unregistered agency, broker and clearing agency.
On February 21, 2025, the company announced that it and Coinbase, Inc. have reached an agreement in principle with the SEC staff, subject to the approval of the SEC’s Commissioners, to jointly stipulate to the dismissal of the litigation with prejudice.
That was just beginning though, SEC didn’t just stop there.
Binance
Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) were sued in June 2023 by SEC that accused the company of artificially inflating trading volumes, diverting customers funds and misleading investors about it’s surveillance controls.
Meanwhile, CZ was also arrested in 2024 for evasion of U.S. money laundering laws and later released after he served four months in jail.
However, on February 13, a federal judge in Washington D.C put the Commission’s civil lawsuit against on hold for 60 days, granting a joint request by the regulator and the company.
Kraken
Same has happened with another crypto exchange company Kraken that was accused by SEC of operating as an unregistered agency. In November 2023, Kraken denied the allegations and countered that the SEC had not provided clear guidelines on whether digital assets should be classified as securities, while filing the motion to dismiss the case.
Recently, as a result the SEC has agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Kraken with prejudice preventing the regulator from refiling the case in the future.
Kraken also took it to X stating,
“The SEC’s decision to dismiss its lawsuit against us (and many others) is more than just a legal victory—it’s a turning point for the future of crypto in the US. It ends a wasteful, politically motivated campaign, lifts uncertainty that stifled innovation and investment, and clears the path toward a stable, forward-thinking regulatory regime.
Richard Heart, Hex Founder
Richard Heart, founder of Hex, Pulsechain and PulseX also got a victory for the charges that were filed against him for raising $1billion through unregistered cryptocurrency investment that led investors to give $12.1 million, that he spent to maintain his luxurious lifestyle. But as expected by Heart, Amon, the federal judge in Brooklyn decided to dismiss the case on 1st March 2025, that was filed against him in 2023.
Conclusion
The favorable stance of Trump administration began with the pardoning of Ross Ulbricht, founder of dark web “silk road” market place by President Donald Trump. Now, with SEC dismissing case against major crypto exchanges, it is a turning point for the future of crypto in U.S. as the sector now awaits clearer regulatory framework.
Also Read: Who is Gary Gensler, the Most Hated Man on Planet Crypto?
