USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Margo H. K. Tank, Michael Fluhr, Deborah Meshulam, Kristin Boggiano, David Stier, Liz S. M. Caires, Adam Dubin, Emily Honsa Hicks, Meghan Carey, Kathleen Birrane and Eric Hall, DLA Piper LLP
Additionally, the SEC and state securities regula - tors have expanded their position that fintechs have gatekeeper responsibilities. The SEC has pursued audit firms, underwriters, broker-deal - ers, auditors, compliance officers, and attorneys who service and advise the industry. See 2.10 Significant Enforcement Actions and 6. Marketplaces, Exchanges and Trading Plat - forms . 2.10 Significant Enforcement Actions SEC Although the SEC brought fewer cryptocurrency cases in 2024, it obtained over USD8.2 billion in remedies – with USD4 billion from its trial win against Terraform Labs. Significant SEC enforcement actions included: (1) that a DAO was charged with failure to regis - ter its offer and sale of tokens and for operating an unregistered investment company; (2) that the SEC alleged that a staking service consti - tuted an unregistered offer and sale of securities, and that the service provider was operating as an unregistered broker. However, there is a significant shift in enforce - ment sentiment in the US. In February 2025, the SEC began to seek dismissals of pending lawsuits alleging that cryptocurrency exchanges were unregistered securities exchanges. CTFC The CFTC also brought fewer new actions in 2024, but collected over USD17.1 billion in mon - etary relief – primarily attributed to its settlement with FTX and Alameda Research. Significant CFTC cases included: (1) settling charges involv - ing the operation of an illegal digital asset deriva - tives exchange and wilfully evading or attempting to evade the CEA and CFTC regulations; and (2)
bringing an action that a decentralised exchange offered leveraged or margined retail commodity transactions in the form of “leveraged tokens” issued by an unaffiliated third party. CFPB In 2024, the CFPB finalised a rule that made “larger participants” (ie, non-bank companies providing digital wallets and payment apps and handling more than 5 million transactions per year) subject to CFPB supervision. It filed 28 enforcement actions against nonbanks in 2024. Targets included consumer reporting agencies, non-depository mortgage lenders, finance com - panies, and mobile payments applications. AML and Sanctions The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Treas - ury continued aggressive AML and sanctions enforcement against digital asset companies and their executives. • The founder of a cryptocurrency mixer was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for conspiracy, money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. • A federal judge fined a centralised cryptocur - rency exchange USD100 million for wilfully fail - ing to establish, implement, and maintain an adequate AML/KYC programme. However, the Fifth Circuit ruled that OFAC over - stepped its authority by adding Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, to its list of Specially Des - ignated Nationals in 2022. The court concluded that immutable smart contracts used by Tornado Cash to anonymise cryptocurrency transactions do not qualify as “property” under the IEEPA.
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