Is SEC Planning More Crypto Crackdowns In September? Legal Officer Warns

Jake Chervinsky, the Chief Legal Officer of VariantFund hinted at the possibility of the market recording increased SEC enforcement actions towards the end of September. United States regulators continue their bottleneck approach on the crypto market despite criticisms from executives. Stakeholders bemoan these actions described as impeding innovation in the market coupled with low sentiments. 

SEC Might Increase Crypto Scrutiny

Jake Chervinsky noted that the market might witness an increase in enforcement actions this month. He pointed to the fact that most regulatory bodies like the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will end the fiscal year on Sept 30. The effect of this can be seen as teams begin to increase enforcement actions to bolster performance reports ahead of future budgetary requests.

“Reminder that the SEC, CFTC, and other regulators have their fiscal year end on September 30. It’s typical in September to see a flurry of enforcement actions as they shore up their performance reports and budget requests for Congress. It could be a busy month.”

This might seem the case as regulators take pride in ramping up actions and scoring points for the number of cases won or at least pending judgment. However, some crypto users differ from this analysis stating that the opposite might occur with the SEC looking for out-of-court wins and settlements. 

Yes, settlements are just as likely as adversarial enforcement actions filed in court. Look at yesterday (Galois) and today (Uniswap) as examples, two settlements with small monetary penalties that SEC and CFTC can call wins.

— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) September 4, 2024

The CFTC slapped a $175,000 settlement fine on decentralized crypto exchange Uniswap for illegal digital assets derivatives trading. 

The Road To Clear Rules

As the SEC and CFTC ramp up regulatory actions, crypto enthusiasts push for clear rules in the United States. The argument for clear rules is to improve innovation and drive market investment in the space. Most commentators opine that the forthcoming elections would be the game changer as candidates from both parties move towards the sectors. On one hand is Trump who has become pro-Bitcoin driving up sentiments. On the other hand, his rival’s unknown crypto stance, Kamala Harris campaign received crypto donations from Coinbase.