- The SEC, under Acting Chair Mark Uyeda, has shifted its policy on cryptocurrency regulation, dropping several lawsuits and investigations
- Cameron Winklevoss announced the SEC closed its investigation into Gemini after 699 days, but the damage to the industry remains
- Despite the legal victory, Gemini faced significant financial and productivity losses due to the prolonged investigation
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission under the leadership of Acting Chair Mark Uyeda has marked a significant shift in policy when it comes to enforcing regulation on cryptocurrency firms.
After several developments this week regarding the SEC dropping or even withdrawing lawsuits against companies like Coinbase, Robinhood’s crypto sector, OpenSea, and Uniswap — the commission has once again abandoned investigations on a DeFi firm.
On February 27, Cameron Winklevoss — co-owner of the cryptocurrency exchange “Gemini” — announced on Twitter that the SEC has closed investigations on the company. This resolution arrives 699 days after the start of the investigation, and 277 days after Gemini first received a Wells Notice.
“While this marks another milestone to the end of the war on crypto,” Winklevoss wrote. “It does little to make up for the damage this agency has done to us, our industry, and America.”
Later Winklevoss stated that — despite the legal victory —Gemini has spent tens of millions of dollars in legal bills. On top of that, he claims that productivity, creativity, and innovation were also affected by the probe.
The investigation analyzed Gemini’s operations, including the company’s staking program. Regulators at the time were exploring whether Gemini was offering unregistered securities, or facilitating the trade of such.
Differently from the Coinbase and Robinhood cases, the “Wells Release” notice by the SEC doesn’t exempt the exchange from future investigations.
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