SEC increased by 50% the number of cases against the crypto industry

In 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened 30 cases related to cryptocurrencies. This is 50% more than a year earlier, follows from report Cornerstone Research.

The indicator amounted to almost a quarter of the total number of law enforcement actions of the regulator for the year – 127 cases.

The experts noted that the most frequent allegations against representatives of the digital asset industry by the SEC were alleged fraud (70% of cases) and unregistered securities offering (73%). In half of the cases, the regulator had claims on both counts.

At the end of the year, cumulative fines resulting from SEC enforcement were approximately $2.61 billion, of which $242 million were settled during the period.

Of the 30 cases of the regulator, 14 concerned ICOin eight of them the projects were accused of fraud.

Among some of the most notable SEC enforcement actions, the researchers cited the insider trading case of an ex-Coinbase employee and the accusation of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Freed of defrauding investors.

The authors of the report suggested that the control of the crypto industry will remain a priority for the Commission under the leadership of Gary Gensler. They recalled that in May, the department almost doubled the number of the relevant unit.

Recall that in January 2023, the SEC accused the Winklevoss brothers of the Gemini bitcoin exchange of selling unregistered securities.

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