A big change is afoot in U.S. crypto policy, as since the start of 2025 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped a dozen prominent cases against crypto companies.
This comes as part of a much larger shift in federal crypto enforcement that was started by the Trump administration. During its time in office, the Trump administration made sweeping changes to the enforcement of crypto regulations and to the leadership of the SEC.
The signals for a rollback are a clear signal that the SEC is moving away from previously having an aggressive stance in favor of the crypto industry. This had been the clear home of the SEC in the headlines during the previous administration. Now, the SEC seems to be moving toward a much friendlier tone in regulating the same industry, and it looks like it has shifted its enforcement priorities toward rethinking how it classifies certain digital assets, like non-fungible tokens.
NFTs No Longer Securities: Yuga Labs and OpenSea Cases Dismissed
Arguably the most attention-grabbing aspect of the SEC’s policy reversal is its decision no longer to treat NFTs as securities. This has led to the dropping of cases against major players like Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, and OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace.
SEC has dropped 12 crypto cases since early 2025
Since Trump took office and began a shakeup at the SEC, the agency has dropped 12 cases against crypto firms.
NFTs are no longer considered securities, and cases involving @yugalabs and @opensea have been closed. The SEC has also… pic.twitter.com/1zfSOKsumz
— CryptoRank.io (@CryptoRank_io) April 16, 2025
Both firms had beforehand been subjected to scrutiny over claims that they were purveying unregistered securities through their NFT ventures. Detractors of the SEC’s earlier deals would point towards a long-established series of artifacts demonstrating that NFTs are far more comparable to peddling art or collectibles than they are to issuers of financial instruments. This latest development strongly suggests that the SEC aligns itself with this view.
This is a momentous victory for the NFT sector, which has experienced legal uncertainty for the last two years. Experts consider new SEC perspectives to be quite favorable toward the NFT business model—at least to the extent that this model doesn’t resemble undercurrents of several regional regulatory actions wherein these agencies have sought to do an end-run around Congress in establishing the law.
SEC Backs Off Centralized Exchanges: Coinbase and Kraken Cleared
Along with its lightened approach to NFTs, the SEC has also put a stop to its lawsuits against some of the biggest centralized crypto exchanges (CEXs). After months of legal fights that had threatened to derail their businesses, two of the most important trading platforms in the U.S., Coinbase and Kraken, have been told that they’re not going to be sued after all.
Before, the SEC had charged both exchanges with enabling the trade of unregistered securities, among other supposed violations. The cases were widely interpreted as part of a more extensive crypto crackdown that reached its high point in 2023 and 2024. The lawsuits, however, also drew some esteemed bipartisan criticism from both corners of Capitol Hill. Along with company executives, a number of legislators have voiced concerns that the SEC is using its legal hammer inappropriately to stifle innovation in the United States.
Under the new leadership, the SEC seems to be shifting toward a direction that acknowledges the need for more clarity and a more nuanced, less one-size-fits-all approach when dealing with crypto exchanges. Many in the industry now have their fingers crossed that this will result in something akin to “regulatory reform” that replaces enforcement-heavy tactics with comprehensive legislation that makes the rules of the road much clearer.
Not All Cases Dropped: Binance and TRON Still Under Scrutiny
Even with the widespread scaling back of enforcement actions, the SEC has not completely given up on the crypto battlefield. The agency is still pursuing cases against Binance, which is the largest crypto exchange in the world, and against the TRON DAO, the decentralized organization that runs the TRON blockchain.
The Binance case is the most intricate and is watched the most closely in the industry. It involves some very serious allegations: market manipulation, for instance—quite a number of industry observers have alleged that Binance has been a market manipulator for a long time now; misuse of customer funds—which has in the past sometimes been a very serious issue with cryptocurrency exchanges; and offering unregistered securities in a variety of different ways.
These ongoing cases indicate that although the SEC is relieving certain areas from its regulatory pressure, it is not completely withdrawing from oversight. Instead, it appears to be putting most of its energy into what it thinks are the most serious violations and the most systemically important companies in crypto.
A New Era for Crypto Regulation?
The SEC’s regulatory philosophy is being influenced in ever clearer ways by the Trump administration. In only a few months’ time, we have seen 12 cases dropped, and the classification of NFTs as non-securities has appeared. The SEC is sending a signal. But what is that signal saying? Is it saying, “We’re here to help foster an environment of innovation”? Or is it saying something else?
Too much lenience, critics contend, can let unsavory characters sneak back into the marketplace. Supporters of leniency, though, assert that if the U.S. wants to be competitive in the global crypto economy, it must go easy on the reins and not bind this new frontier too tightly. Either way, the SEC’s altering of course seems a big moment for the industry and for regulation in general.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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Source: https://nulltx.com/sec-drops-12-crypto-cases-amid-regulatory-shake-up-under-trump-administration/