A lot has happened in crypto-related politics this year. Congress passed — and the president signed — the first major piece of crypto legislation in U.S. history this year. Federal regulators have significantly reduced their enforcement actions against crypto companies while announcing more regulatory efforts aimed at strengthening the sector. Companies themselves have felt bolder in launching new products and services in the United States.
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The story
Last year, the CoinDesk policy team explained what we were looking for in 2025. Here’s how we did it.
Why it matters
This is the last edition of this newsletter for 2025. A lot has happened and it is clear that we will all be busy until 2026.
Break it down
On December 31, 2024, I wrote that “it seems quite likely that the agency will change how it approaches future prosecutions of crypto industry participants.” Less clear is how the agency might handle its ongoing cases against companies like Coinbase, Binance, Binance.US, Kraken and others. No lawyer seems to think the SEC will dismiss these cases outright.
The SEC dismissed the vast majority of cases it brought last year.
Other court cases went as planned; Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal is ongoing, Roman Storm’s case resulted in a partial conviction, post-trial motions are still pending, Do Kwon has pleaded guilty to some charges, and there are still a small number of active cases that we are tracking.
Jesse Hamilton noted that while Congress would work on the legislation, “at the end of the day: Post-election enthusiasm often settles into a why-is-this-taking-so-long type mood.”
While the GENIUS Act regarding stablecoins has become law – also confirming Cheyenne Ligon’s analysis – ongoing negotiations on the larger market structure bill confirm Jesse’s analysis.
The world of regulation has become much more complex when it comes to digital assets, in the sense that an increasing number of countries are advancing their approaches to digital assets. This ranges from regulations in the United States, to new licenses issued in the Middle East, to Russia’s evolving approach to digital assets.
This week
- Happy New Year everyone!
If you have any ideas or questions about what I should discuss next week or any other comments you would like to share, please feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
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See you next week!
