SEC dropped crypto cases to avoid credibility issues, says ex-acting chair

Mark Uyeda, who previously served as the acting chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated that the agency dropped numerous civil cases against cryptocurrency companies in early 2025. Uyeda explained that this decision was made to prevent the agency from facing credibility issues in court when arguing positions that contradicted its planned policy changes. He noted that there were significant concerns that the cases, authorized under the previous administration, might not hold up against new interpretations. "I’m not about to have our litigators, even though they’re having cases that were authorized under the prior administration, stand up in court and have a commission interpretation be issued that is a 180-degree change from what they’d been arguing for that court," Uyeda said during a panel at the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy’s Financial Markets Quality Conference. "I think that hurts [our] credibility as an agency." The cases dropped included those against Kraken, Ripple Labs, and Coinbase. Critics had suggested these actions were retaliatory for industry support of Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, as Trump had pledged to remove former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, under whom many of these cases were filed, upon taking office. Gensler resigned the day Trump assumed the presidency. Uyeda has been an SEC commissioner since 2022 and currently serves alongside Commissioner Paul Atkins. With Commissioner Hester Peirce expected to depart in November, the agency will have only two of its five members on its leadership panel, and Trump has not yet announced nominations for replacements.