Journalist
Posted:
- SEC closed the Gemini lawsuit, marking the fifth regulatory rollback this month.
- The agency also paused Tron and Justin Sun’s lawsuit for sixty days.
The SEC has dropped its investigation into Gemini exchange after 699 days, marking the fifth crypto firm to have its lawsuit closed or withdrawn in February.
According to Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, the agency informed them of the closure on the 24th of February.
Winklevoss hailed the move as an end to the war on crypto, citing relief for other firms like Coinbase and Uniswap[UNI].
Call for SEC reforms
However, he decried the heavy litigation costs incurred, and the time lost for Gemini and other firms. Winklevoss recommended reimbursement of legal fees and punishment against some SEC members as a deterrence.
“It’s wholly unacceptable for an agency like the SEC to bully, harass, and attack a lawful industry and then decide one day to simply say we’re good and walk away.”
Winklevoss added that figures like former SEC chair Gary Gensler, who weaponize law enforcement, should be banned from other agencies.
According to him, these were the plausible ways to prevent another ‘Operation Chokepoint’ or banking restriction for crypto firms from recurring.
“Operation Chokepoint didn’t stop at 1.0. It continued to 2.0 because not enough was done to hold bureaucrats accountable for their actions during 1.0. And there will be a 3.0 unless there is a real, public reckoning for 2.0.”
In early 2023, Gemini was charged by the SEC for operating an unregistered lending service, the Gemini Earn program. The program, a partnership with Genesis Capital, allowed users to loan their crypto and earn a yield.
Note, however, that there has been a growing list of regulatory rollbacks or pauses under the new SEC.
On the 10th of February, the agency paused the Binance lawsuit for sixty days. The agency has also paused the Tron Foundation and its co-founder, Justin Sun., as noted by crypto lawyer Jeremy Hogan,
“The SEC has just agreed to pause the Tron Foundation lawsuit and are asking the judge for 60 days to resolve it…Another SEC crypto litigation is going away.”
In 2023, authorities charged Sun, who also serves as a crypto advisor to President Trump-affiliate DeFi project World Liberty Financials, with market manipulation and the illegal sale of Tron [TRX] as a ‘security.’
The regulatory rollbacks are part of the new SEC push for more clarity in the sector, as its Crypto Task Force seeks to develop a comprehensive framework for the industry.
