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Recent developments in the world of crypto have come at a rapid pace to open 2025 not only signaling but, in some instances, explicitly declaring the Trump Administration’s intent to significantly relax or eliminate regulation and enforcement in the crypto markets. On January 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order with the goal of “providing regulatory clarity and certainty” declaring a new approach to crypto regulation and enforcement. On February 4, the head of a task force created by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlined items the task force planned to address and criticized the prior administration’s policies on crypto. On February 21, 2025, the SEC closed its investigations into Opensea and Robinhood without taking further action and dismissed claims against Coinbase. Then, on February 27, 2025, the SEC announced that memecoins no longer would be considered securities subject to SEC oversight.

Yet, while the new administration has declared its intent to take a far more hands-off approach to cryptocurrency regulation and enforcement, it is possible all such efforts are not necessarily dead. On February 24, 2025, OKX pled guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money business agreeing to enormous fines. The administration’s apparent efforts to limit regulation of the cryptocurrency markets would appear to put to rest the prior Congress’s efforts to legislate cryptocurrency enforcement between the SEC and CFTC. Meanwhile, private litigation continues against crypto exchanges and issuers indicating that even though federal enforcement may become much more relaxed, civil litigants may become something of a check on the industry.

1. The Executive Order

President Trump issued an executive order concerning crypto on January 23, 2025. The Executive Order established an inter-agency task force, referred to as the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets (the “Working Group”). The Working Group is chaired by David Sacks (the “Chair”), who Trump deemed to be the administration’s “Crypto and AI Czar.”

The Working Group is required to report to the president with its findings, as follows:

• Within 30 days of the date of the Order, the Working Group must identify all regulations, guidance documents, orders, or other items that affect the digital assets.
• Within 60 days of the date of the Order, each agency must submit recommendations with respect to whether each identified regulation, guidance document, order, or other item should be rescinded or modified, or, for items other than regulations, adopted in a regulation.
• Within 180 days of the date of the Order, the Working Group shall submit a report to Assistant to the President for National Economic Policy with regulatory and legislative proposals that advance the policies established in this order. The report will propose a Federal regulatory framework governing the issuance and operation of digital assets, including stable coins in the United States, a likely departure from the prior administration. Additionally, the report will consider legislative provisions concerning market structure, oversight, consumer protection and risk management.

2. The SEC Task Force

On January 21, 2025, two days before President Trump signed the Executive Order, the SEC created its own Crypto Task Force (the “Task Force”). The Task Force is “dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets” and chaired by Hester Peirce (a Trump appointed Commissioner to the SEC). Pierce criticized the SEC’s past practice of relying primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively. Therefore, “[t]he Task Force’s focus will be to help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”

On February 4, 2025, Commissioner Peirce issued a statement listing items the Task Force is currently working on:

• Security Status: The Task Force is examining the different types of crypto assets and their status as securities.
• Scoping Out: the Task Force is identifying areas that fall outside of the SEC’s jurisdiction and is inviting requests for no-action letters to help clarify jurisdiction.
• Coin and Token Offerings: The Task Force is considering recommending temporary prospective and retroactive relief for coin or token offerings if certain information is provided and there is consent to the SEC’s anti-fraud jurisdiction. Such tokens would be deemed non-securities.
• Registered Offerings: The Task Force is considering a streamlined path to token registration.
• Special Purpose Dealer: The Task Force is exploring updates to the special-purpose broker dealer no action statement to more effectively address broker-dealers that custody crypto asset securities alongside crypto assets that are not securities.
• Custody Solutions for Investment Advisors: The Task Force is looking to provide an appropriate custodial framework for advisors.
• Crypto-Lending and Staking: The Task Force hopes to provide clarity on whether crypto-lending and staking programs are covered by securities law.
• Crypto Exchange-Traded Products: The Task Force will work to clarify the approach used when considering SRO applications to list new products.
• Clearing Agencies and Transfer Agents: The Task Force hopes to improve the intersection of crypto, clearing agency and transfer rules.
• Cross-Border Sandbox: The Task Force understands many crypto projects are international and will consider ways to facilitate cross-border experimentation.

3. The SEC Ends Investigations, Dismisses Charges and Shares its Views that Meme Coins Are Not Securities.

Seemingly in line with the SEC’s criticism of past enforcement actions, the SEC recently ended investigations into Robinhood’s crypto business and into OpenSea without taking further action. On February 21, 2025, the SEC informed Robinhood Crypto that it would not move forward with an enforcement action. The Form 8-K disclosing the Well’s notice that Robinhood received in May of 2024, which alleged violations of Sections 15(a) and 17 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, can be found here. Also on February 21, 2025, the Co-founder of Opensea, the world’s largest market place for non-fungible tokens announced the SEC was closing its investigation without categorizing NFTs as securities.

Additionally, on February 21, 2025, Coinbase, America’s largest crypto exchange, announced that the SEC agreed in principle to dismiss charges against Coinbase. The lawsuit against Coinbase was filed in 2023 and accused Coinbase of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. More information about the Coinbase dismissal can be found here.

In line with ending the above enforcement actions, on February 27, 2025, the SEC announced that “neither meme coin purchasers nor holders are protected by the federal securities law” because meme coins “do not involve the offer and sale of securities under the federal securities law.” Therefore, “persons who participate in the offer and sale of meme coins do not need to register their transactions with the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.”

4. OKX Pleads Guilty.

Despite the flurry of closed investigations, on February 24, 2025, one of the largest derivatives and spot crypto exchanges pled guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to forfeit over $420.3 million and pay an additional fine of more than $84.4 million. The Complaint filed against OKX can be found here.

Prosecutors faulted OKX for allowing U.S. investors to trade on the exchange, which did not have adequate anti-money laundering policies and procedures, despite its official ban against U.S. customers.

Under OKX’s plea agreement, OKX’s United States affiliate—OKCoin USA, Inc. can continue to conduct business with U.S. investors. OKX’s cooperation with the investigation reduced its fine range, and OKX is not subject to a monitor’s supervision.

5. Next Steps

When issuing a statement regarding the OKX plea, U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky warned financial institutions that there will be “consequences for financial institutions that avail themselves of the U.S. markets but violate the law by allowing criminal activity to continue.” When looked at in combination with the dismissal of the lawsuit against Coinbase and completion of investigations of Robinhood and Opensea, it appears that the Commission will continue to prosecute anti-money laundering matters and anti-fraud generally, but may reduce cases for failure to register as a broker, dealer or exchange until regulatory clarity is achieved.

Notwithstanding a decline in enforcement, private class action should remain robust. For example, on January 14, 2024, OKX was named in a class action suit that alleged OKX allowed criminals to launder stolen funds. Plaintiff Alister Watt noted that a “material portion” of his stolen crypto ended up in an OKX account, and that OKX and certain affiliates failed to apply the necessary anti-money laundering procedures and, therefore, should be liable.

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