The New York Times at the bottom: infighting, rivalry, transfer of interests... What other unknown details are behind Trump's “amnesty” encryption?
Source: The New York Times
Original title: The S.E.C. Was Tough on Crypto. It Goes Back After Trump Goes to Office.
Authors: Ben Protess, Andrea Fuller, Sharon LaFranieRe, Seamus Hughes、Elena Shao
Compiled and organized by: bitPushNews
For the first time, the “New York Times” conducted a systematic analysis of thousands of government documents and court records from the last three US administrations, and interviewed more than 20 current and former government officials.
A cryptocurrency company run by twin billionaire Winklevoss brothers was facing tough federal court charges at the time. After Trump returned to the White House, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Action was taken to freeze the case.
The SEC also previously sued Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange (Binance), but after the new administration took office, the SEC completely dropped the lawsuit against the company.
Additionally, at Ripple Labs (RippleLabs) After years of legal battles, the new SEC is trying to reduce the amount of fines handed down by the court to mitigate the penalties imposed on the crypto company.
A New York Times investigation found that the SEC's relinquishment of these cases reflected an overall shift in the federal government's attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry during President Trump's second term.
The SEC's mass retreat of lawsuits against a single industry is unheard of.
However, the New York Times found that when Trump returned to the White House, the SEC slowed down more than 60% of ongoing cryptocurrency cases, including suspending lawsuits, mitigating penalties, or outright dropping cases.
调The investigation pointed out that the circumstances in which these cases were withdrawn were particularly abnormal. SEC's withdrawal rate against cryptocurrency companies during Trump's tenuremuch higher thanOther types of cases.
Although the specific circumstances of these crypto lawsuits vary, the companies involved often have one thing in common:They are all financially linked to Trump, the self-proclaimed “president of cryptocurrency.”
As the highest federal agency that oversees financial markets in the US, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is no longer actively pursuing any company publicly linked to Trump.
The “New York Times” investigation found that the agency has taken a concessionary attitude towards all companies linked to the Trump family's crypto business or that have provided financial support for their political undertakings. Currently, the SEC's only remaining target in the crypto case is being prosecuted.They are all unknown defendants with no apparent connection to Trump.
Case handling statistics (data as of December 15, 2025):
Direct dismissal cases: 7 cases
└ Five of these cases involved defendants publicly linked to TrumpMitigation measures taken: 7 cases
└ Including suspending asset freezes, making favorable settlements or substantial concessions
└ Three of these cases involved defendants publicly linked to TrumpMaintaining the original litigation position: 9 cases
└ No public links with Trump have been found so far
The SEC said in a statement that political favoritism “had nothing to do” with the way they handled cryptocurrency enforcement, and said the agency's shift was due to legal and policy reasons, including concerns about its power to regulate the industry. The SEC notes that long before Trump embraced the crypto industry, the agency's current Republican commissioner fundamentally disagreed with filing most crypto cases and emphasized that they “take securities fraud and investor protection seriously.”
There is currently no indication that the president has pressured the agency to show mercy to specific crypto companies. We also found no evidence that these companies tried to influence cases against them through donations or commercial ties with Trump, some of which were only established after the SEC policy shift.
However, Trump is both a player in the crypto industry and the industry's top decision maker, and he will profit from companies regulated by his own government. The fact that many of the companies that have been sued by the SEC are linked to him shows the conflict of interest brought about by the president promoting policies that are in his own interest.
At the beginning of his second term, the White House announced that the president would “stop aggressive enforcement actions and excessive regulation that are stifling cryptocurrency innovation.”
Although the SEC's abandonment of some cryptocurrency cases has previously attracted public attention, the New York Times analysis of thousands of court records and dozens of interviews revealed the unprecedented scale of this year's regulatory regression and the huge benefits it has brought to Trump's industry allies.
All byNew YorkThe defendants named in the Times investigation all denied any wrongdoing, and many companies insisted they were only accused of technical violations. Some of the companies whose cases were dismissed by the agency had no apparent connection with the president.
Crypto companies have welcomed what Trump's newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins (Paul S. Atkins) has called a “new day” for the industry.
White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt (Karoline Leavitt) dismissed claims that Trump and her family had any conflicts of interest. She stated that Trump's policy is “to deliver on the President's promise to make America a global cryptocurrency capital and bring innovation and economic opportunities to all Americans.”
The Trump administration has fully relaxed crypto regulations, including the Department of Justice shutting down a crypto enforcement unit. But this year's SEC changes mark a particularly drastic reversal.
According to the New York Times analysis, the SEC initiated an average of more than two crypto cases per month (whether in federal courts or within its internal legal system) during the Biden administration. Even during Trump's first term, the agency filed an average of about one case per month, including a high-profile case against Ripple.
By contrast, the SEC hasn't filed a single crypto case (as defined by the New York Times) since Trump returned to the White House, although it continues to file dozens of lawsuits against other types of defendants.
Number of cryptocurrency lawsuits filed by the US SEC during different administration periods
Trump's first term:From 50
During the Biden administration:From 105
Trump's second term (current):From 0
Trump's newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul S Atkins argued in a statement that his agency was simply restraining the previous administration's overzealous attitude towards the crypto industry. He insisted that the SEC in the Biden era used its enforcement powers to develop new policies.
“I have made it clear that we will end the practice of replacing regulation with enforcement,” Atkins said.
While crypto firms welcomed what Atkins called a “new day” for the industry, SEC career lawyers responsible for filing some of these cases expressed concern about this retreat. They fear that this agency, founded during the Great Depression to protect investors and monitor the market, is bolstering the crypto industry in ways that could hurt consumers and threaten the broader financial system.
Christopher E. Martin (Christopher E. Martin) is the SEC's senior litigation attorney and has led a case against a crypto company. He chose to retire after the agency dropped the lawsuit this year.
He described the SEC's broad concession as a “complete surrender,” and said, “They really lost investors to the wolf pack.”
The end of tough regulation
Inside the SEC's glass-walled Washington headquarters, the agency's crackdown on cryptocurrencies came to an end at the end of last year.
Then-Chairman Gary Gensler (Gary Gensler, appointed by the Biden administration) wants to advance multiple cryptocurrency investigations, but he has run out of time.
Trump won re-election, and he had just announced a cryptocurrency venture capital firm involving him and his family — “World Free Finance” (World Liberty Financial), and vowed to restrain the SEC.
Trump hasn't always supported crypto. During his first term, he said on Twitter that cryptocurrencies are based on “thin air” and may fuel the drug trade and other illegal activities.
His first SEC also took a tough stance at the time. The agency set up a department dedicated to cracking down on cyber and cryptocurrency misconduct, and filed dozens of cases.
During Biden's tenure, the agency's strength increased several times. By 2022 (giant crypto exchangesFTXThe year it crashed), the SEC cryptocurrency division almost doubled in size to around 50 lawyers and industry experts.
During both presidents, the SEC believed that since investors can invest their lifetime savings into cryptocurrencies, they should understand the risks involved.
But a tough legal question has always loomed over the agency: does it have the power to file these cases? The answer depends on whether cryptocurrencies are securities, a modern variant of a stock or other financial instrument.
The SEC argues that many cryptocurrencies are actually securities, so companies such as crypto exchanges and brokers must register with the agency, file extensive public disclosure documents, and in some cases be subject to independent scrutiny. If they fail to register, the agency can sue them for violating securities laws.
The industry countered that most cryptocurrencies are not securities, but rather another asset class, requiring a specific set of rules not yet established by the agency.
Blockchain Association (Blockchain Association) CEO Summer Mersinger (Summer Mersinger) said, “We are not seeking to be unregulated; what we are looking for is clear regulation that we can operate on.”
The situation began to shift to the crypto industry last year as Trump turned from a cryptocurrency sceptic to an evangelist.
In a speech in July 2024, he promised crypto enthusiasts that “persecution” against their industry would stop, and stated “On my first day in office, I'll fire Gary Gensler.”
The SEC is an independent body made up of five president-appointed commissioners, including a chairman, whose views often reflect the positions of the government that appointed him. The commissioners vote on whether to initiate, settle, or dismiss the case, but professional law enforcement officers are responsible for the actual investigation. This system allows for changes in regulatory priorities, but has traditionally avoided drastic swings in political will.
But when Trump won the election for the second time, a sobering sense of reality pervaded within the SEC. Gensler announced his departure soon after the election.
而The cryptocurrency regulator, once seen as a career springboard, suddenly became a “negative asset” overnight.
According to people familiar with the matter, during the presidential transition of power, Gensler's law enforcement chief Sanjay Wadwa implored the law enforcement team to “complete the work we should do when the people pay and hire them.” (As it involved an internal meeting, the person concerned requested to speak anonymously.)
Despite this, partStaff are stillI backed out.
According to people familiar with the matter, a senior leader of the crypto team took an unannounced vacation for several weeks and did not respond to emails about the case.
Another senior official declined to sign a handful of crypto cases brought by the agency after the election.
Other officials have completely halted work on the crypto case at hand, hampering Jensler's last-ditch efforts.
Victor Suthammanont (Victor Suthammanont) has been with the agency for ten years and recently served as Jenssler's law enforcement advisor. He said that during the first two government changes, the staff persisted.
“But this transition is unlike anything I've ever seen before,”Sutamanon said he declined to discuss the specific case.“The atmosphere changed instantly.”
Once Trump was sworn in, there was no going back. He appointed Mark T. Uyeda (Mark T. Uyeda), one of the SEC's Republican members as acting chairman until the president's nominee, Atkins, was approved by the Senate.
Uda has long opposed the agency's way of handling crypto cases. In a statement to the New York Times, he said Gensler was using a novel theory “not supported by existing law.”
But in a 2022 speech, Gensler made it clear that he held the opposite view. “When a new technology comes along, our existing laws don't go away with it,” he said.
By the beginning of February,UdaJorge G. Tenero, who previously helped lead the crypto department and was responsible for most cases, has been marginalized.
Tenello was transferred to the IT department, a move seen within the SEC as a demeaning demotion arrangement.
Without Tenero, the agency began dropping investigations into crypto companies facing potential lawsuits. While some investigations are ongoing, at least 10 companies have announced they are no longer under scrutiny, including one announced just last week.
“Nothing to negotiate”
Uda soon faced an even tougher decision: how to handle the Biden-era lawsuit that the agency is still pursuing in court.
While the SEC often abandons investigations, withdrawing ongoing cases is rare and requires approval from the agency's commissioners.
In one of the most high-profile crypto cases, the SEC sued the largest US crypto exchange, Coinbase, accusing it of failing to register with the agency. The company actively defended Biden during his tenure, persuading the presiding judge to allow a higher court to review the case before trial.
Now, with the SEC falling into the hands of the Trump administration, Coinbase is one of the first companies to seek a withdrawal.
Traditionally, the SEC chairman's office would stay out of the question and leave such negotiations to career officials overseeing the case. But an official from Uda's office participated in part of the negotiations with Coinbase, as well as meetings with law enforcement lawyers.
Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Groval (Paul Grewal) In an interview, he said, “We are very careful to ensure that the Acting Chairman's Office is kept up to date with everything that is happening and is informed of everything.”
Uda said it was “entirely appropriate” for his staff to attend these meetings.
The SEC under Uda was initially reluctant to drop the case. A source familiar with the matter revealed that their initial proposal to Coinbase was simply to suspend the lawsuit.
However, Coinbase declined the extension.
Subsequently, the SEC made a more generous offer: it would drop the case on the condition that the agency reserves the power to resume lawsuits in the future if the leadership changes its mind.
Coinbase is not going to settle this either.
“We know very well — either they surrender or we continue the lawsuit because we have nothing to negotiate,” said Gruval, a former federal judge.
The SEC eventually made concessions. At that time, due to the departure of Gensler and another member of the Democratic Party, there were only two Republican members and one Democratic member left in the agency.
Without mentioning any specific decisions, Uda said, “Such cases should not continue, particularly if the SEC will disprove their potential theories in the near future.”
But the remaining Democratic Party member Caroline Crenshaw (Caroline Crenshaw) said in an interview that the agency has given the cryptocurrency industry a full range of preferential treatment.
She said:“They can actually do whatever they want.”
A shift in attitude
The crypto industry sees the withdrawal of Coinbase as a white flag for surrender.
Lawyers from other crypto firms have sought similar settlements. By the end of May, the agency had dropped six more cases.
The New York Times's analysis of court records highlights the anomaly of this situation.
Under Biden, the SECNo active revocationOne crypto case still pending comes from Trump's first term, although it did drop parts of a case against a deceased defendant and another case after a judge ruled against it.
However, during Trump's second term,The agency retracted 33% of the Biden-era crypto cases it inherited. However, for cases in other industries, the cancellation rate was only 4%.
The SEC dropped its lawsuit against Binance despite vowing to continue to pursue fraud. In the case, the SEC accused the two entities involved of fraudulently misleading customers, claiming they are working to prevent manipulative transactions.
The SEC is also asking the judge to freeze the crypto millionaireSun Yuchen(Justin Sun) and his Wave Field Foundation (TronFoundation) fraud case, one of four cases handled by the agency to reach a settlement. Agency officials have yet to announce a resolution to the case.
All in all, the SEC, which has taken over by the current Trump administration, has inherited a total of 23 crypto-related cases. Of these, 21 were from Biden's administration, and the other 2 cases date back to Trump's first term. Of these 23 cases, the agency has already taken concessions on 14 of them.
In eight of these cases, the defendants established ties with the President or his family before or shortly after the case was resolved.
For example, Sun Yuchen bought $75 million worth of “World Free Finance” digital tokens. His company, Tron, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In court documents, Sun Yuchen and Bo Chang said the SEC lacked evidence of fraud and jurisdiction to prosecute.
Just a few weeks before the Binance case was dropped, the company was involved in a $2 billion commercial deal using the “World Free Finance” digital currency. The deal is expected to bring the Trump family tens of millions of dollars a year.
A spokesperson for “World Free Finance” said that “there is no link between World Free Finance and the US government,” adding that the company “has no influence on the executive branch's policies or decisions.”
Binance said in a statement that the SEC's action against it was “the product of a war against crypto.”
In March of this year, the SEC dropped an accusation against a crypto trading companyCumberlandA case of acting as an unregistered securities dealer.
After about two months, its parent company DRW invested nearly $100 million in the Trump family's media company.
DRW officials said the company only received investment opportunities after the case was over, and the case was withdrawn solely because the allegations were untrue.
In the case against Ripple (Ripple) (which donated nearly $5 million to Trump's inauguration), the SEC tried to reverse its efforts.
During Trump's first term, the SEC accused Ripple of denying investors access to important information when selling its crypto tokens. Last year, after dismissing some of the SEC's charges, a federal judge ordered Ripple to pay $125 million in fines for some securities irregularities.
However, after Trump returned to the White House, the SEC tried to reduce the fine to just $50 million. The judge denounced the government's shift in attitude and rejected the new settlement.
Ripple has argued to a judge that they should get a lower fine, in part because the SEC has taken action to drop complaints against other similar crypto companies. Ripple eventually paid the full fine.
The president's media company said in July that they plan to include Ripple's cryptocurrency in an investment fund open to the public.
In an interview, Republican commissioner Hester M. Peirce (Hester M. Peirce), who heads the SEC's newly established crypto task force, said that withdrawing from many cases was to correct mistakes. She said these cases should not have been brought up in the first place.
“I would say that the radical action took place in the past few years, when cases were brought that we have no legal basis in law,” she added, adding that she believes these cases are stifling legitimate innovation.
Pierce said that political or financial considerations had no effect on the situation. “We're making decisions based on facts and specific circumstances, not on 'who this person knows, '” she said.
“Adequate cash”
Few crypto industry players are closer to Trump than brothers Taylor and Cameron Winklevoss (Winklevoss).
The twins founded and run the Gemini Trust, and they donate to fundraising committees and other Republican organizations supporting Trump's re-election campaign.
They also funded the construction of the White House Ballroom (a private project of the President).
They also supported a new exclusive club in Washington, the “Executive Branch” (Executive Branch), which is partly owned by the president's eldest son Donald Trump Jr.
Additionally, the brothers' investment company recently invested in a new crypto mining company called “American Bitcoin” (American Bitcoin);
Trump's second son Eric Trump (Eric Trump) is the company's co-founder and chief strategy officer, and Donald Trump Jr., is also an investor.
The president has praised the twins several times, describing them as intelligent male models with high IQs.
At a White House event, Trump said, “They have good looks, they have talent, and plenty of cash.”
But Gemini Trust is in legal trouble.
In December 2020, Gemini and another company, Genesis Global Capital, agreed to offer Gemini customers the opportunity to lend their crypto assets to Genesis. Genesis, in turn, lends these assets to larger players.
Genesis pays interest to the customer, and the customer is promised that the asset can be withdrawn at any time, while Gemini receives a share for acting as an intermediary. Gemini advertises the program as a way for account holders to earn up to 8% interest.
San Diego data scientist Peter Chen said in an interview that he trusts Gemini enough to hand over more than $7 million. “They gave me the impression they were clean, rule-abiding, and one of the most heavily regulated of any crypto company,” he said.
Then at the end of 2022, Genesis, which faced bankruptcy, froze the accounts of 230,000 customers, includingPeter Chen's account.
A 73-year-old grandmother implored Gemini to return her life savings of $19.9 million. “I'm doomed without that money,” she wrote.
Genesis reached a $2 billion settlement with New York in May 2024, and customers eventually got their money back. Gemini has also reached its own agreement with the state to pay up to $50 million to cover any remaining losses if needed. It denied any wrongdoing, blamed Genesis for the disaster, and stated that ultimately no customer lost money.
But the SEC has also sued the two companies, accusing them of selling cryptocurrencies without registration. On social media, Taylor Winklevoss called the lawsuit “a fabricated parking ticket.”
Genesis reached a settlement, but Gemini fought until April of this year, when the SEC took action to freeze the case to seek a settlement. The agency revealed in September that it had reached an agreement with Gemini, but committee members still need to vote for approval.
The SEC informed the presiding federal judge that the agreement would “completely resolve this lawsuit.”
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