Will Trump's SEC "Lay Down Their Arms" in Crypto Enforcement?

Plus 24X National Exchange receives SEC approval to offer trading 23 hours/day.

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Bruce Carton
December 02, 2024

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Jorge Tenreiro, previously the Acting Chief of the SEC Division of Enforcement’s Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit, has been named Chief Litigation Counsel. (Mr. Tenreiro will be a panelist at Securities Enforcement Forum New York, on the “Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency” panel).

Clips ✂️

Trump’s Return Heralds Litigation Peace for Crypto

Regulators tried to police the crypto market using the strongest weapons they have. Now they are likely to lay down their arms.

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase and Kraken last year, accusing the platforms of dealing assets that are illegal to trade without regulatory supervision. Crypto executives had refused to comply with financial rules that they said were a bad fit for digital currencies.

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The next SEC chairman is likely to offer crypto exchanges a favorable settlement. Lawyers considered as candidates to succeed Gensler have positioned themselves as critics of his litigation. One who has been considered, former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins, said the agency should pause most of its crypto lawsuits while clearing a path for the firms to do business without the overhang of litigation. “To the extent there are no fraud claims involved, my sense is the commission would be likely to dismiss those cases in the future,” Stebbins said.

by WSJ

👉 I’m including this clip 50% because it is relevant and 50% because of the WSJ’s graphic for the article:

24X National Exchange Wins SEC Approval to Offer Trading 23 Hours a Day

A startup stock exchange aiming to handle trades around the clock won a US watchdog’s approval to operate a venue 23 hours daily, five days a week.

24X National Exchange, which counts Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures fund as a backer, secured permission to start offering sessions that span the US daytime and later add overnight trading, the Securities and Exchange Commission wrote in a notice posted Wednesday. The plan would preserve one-hour breaks starting at 7 p.m.

by Bloomberg

👉 The SEC’s “Findings, Opinion, and Order” is here.

Trump Team Eyes Atkins, Ex-SEC Commissioner, to Succeed Gensler

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has interviewed Paul Atkins, a veteran financial regulator and eminence grise of conservative financial circles, as a candidate to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.

Atkins is a top contender for the job to replace outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the people said, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Trump is expected to make a pick in the coming days, and no decisions have been made, they said.

by Bloomberg

👉On Kalshi, Atkins is now a 69% favorite to be Trump’s SEC Chair (as of 9:00 am ET today).

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