The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set a new record for penalties against cryptocurrency companies this year, according to Social Capital.
Since 2013, when the SEC started regulating the crypto industry, it has collected over $7.42 billion in fines. So far in 2024, the SEC has imposed approximately $4.7 billion in penalties, making up 68% of the total amount.
The largest settlement this year was a $4.68 billion deal with Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra cryptocurrency.
Yearly Overview of SEC Fines from 2013 to 2024 | Social Capital
This $4.68 billion settlement is higher than the $4.3 billion deal from 2023 between the U.S. Justice Department and the crypto exchange Binance.
In 2024, the SEC has already filed 11 lawsuits against crypto companies. Last year, 2023, was even busier, with the SEC filing 30 lawsuits and getting $150 million in settlements.
This rise in penalties began in 2018 when the SEC started imposing larger fines on digital asset firms. By 2019, the average fine had increased a lot, mostly due to a $1.2 billion penalty against Telegram’s cryptocurrency project (TON) This has continued under SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The SEC’s ongoing efforts to regulatory cryptocurrency, which some in the crypto space have called “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” have led to legal disputes with major companies like Coinbase and Ripple. Gensler believes that many digital assets are securities and need to follow federal laws.
