The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly been prioritizing pausing cryptocurrency enforcement cases with imminent deadlines, which is partly why the securities regulator hasn’t yet paused its lawsuits against crypto firms Ripple and Kraken, according to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett.
The next court deadline for Ripple, the XRP Ledger blockchain network’s developer, isn’t until April 16. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken’s next deadline is March 31, Terrett said in a Feb. 19 X post, citing several unnamed sources. Cointelegraph did not independently verify the information.
Terrett added that cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance do not face court deadlines until March 14 and April 14, respectively.
“It’s possible SEC leadership is expecting @realDonaldTrump’s pick for chair Paul Atkins to be on his way to getting confirmed by that time,” Terrett said.
“In the interim, the crypto task force, Congress and the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets are presumably working to fill the regulatory gaps that led to these lawsuits being brought in the first place.”
Source: Eleanor Terrett
Related: Kraken restores staking services in US after 2-year hiatus
Changing US regulatory regime
Under former US President Joe Biden, financial regulators — namely the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — brought more than 100 lawsuits against crypto firms for alleged legal violations.
In 2023, the SEC sued Kraken, alleging that the exchange operated as an unregistered securities broker.
The same year, the agency sued Coinbase for purportedly failing to register as a broker, national securities exchange or clearing agency and thus evading the disclosure scheme for securities markets.
The agency previously took action against the exchanges for offering cryptocurrency staking services in the US.
Meanwhile, Ripple has been mired in a lawsuit with the SEC since 2020. The regulator alleges Ripple issued unregistered securities when launching its XRP (XRP) token.
By contrast, US President Donald Trump has taken an industry-friendly approach in his second term, promising to cut back on enforcement actions against crypto firms and make America “the world’s crypto capital.”
Trump has nominated Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, to chair the SEC. The agency has been gradually winding down or pausing enforcement actions against crypto firms.
On Jan. 30, 10 days after Trump began his second presidential term, Kraken resumed staking services for US clients for the first time in nearly two years.
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