The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published its latest enforcement results relating to crypto assets. “Fiscal year 2023 was another highly productive and impactful year for the SEC’s enforcement efforts relating to crypto asset securities,” the regulator described. “The investing public benefits from the Division of Enforcement’s work as a cop on the beat,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler claimed.
SEC’s FY 2023 Crypto Enforcement Actions
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its enforcement results for the fiscal year 2023 on Tuesday. The securities regulator revealed that it filed 784 total enforcement actions, a 3% increase over fiscal year 2022. SEC Chair Gary Gensler commented:
The investing public benefits from the Division of Enforcement’s work as a cop on the beat.
Regarding crypto assets, the SEC stated: “Fiscal year 2023 was another highly productive and impactful year for the SEC’s enforcement efforts relating to crypto asset securities.”
The securities regulator explained that it has taken various enforcement measures within the cryptocurrency space, encompassing “billion-dollar crypto fraud schemes, unregistered crypto asset offerings, platforms, and intermediaries, and illegal celebrity touting.” The SEC then highlighted a number of high-profile cases involving Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon, Richard Heart and his controlled entities, former FTX CEO Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF), Genesis and Gemini, Celsius, Kraken, Nexo, Beaxy, Bittrex, Binance, and Coinbase.
The SEC also filed its first actions against non-fungible token (NFT) issuers in fiscal year 2023, charging Impact Theory LLC and Stoner Cats 2 LLC.
In addition, the SEC took action in several cases where “influencers” allegedly promoted crypto asset securities without disclosing their compensation for doing so. These individuals included Paul Pierce, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Michele Mason (Kendra Lust), Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo), Aliaune Thiam (Akon), DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy), and Austin Mahone.
Last week, another U.S. regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), revealed that it filed a record number of crypto enforcement actions this fiscal year. “In FY 2023, the CFTC brought 47 actions involving conduct related to digital asset commodities, representing more than 49% of all actions filed during that period,” the regulator stated.
What do you think about the SEC’s enforcement actions against the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below.
