Despite End-of-Year Uptick, Gary Gensler’s SEC Cut Down Crypto Sanctions by 30% in 2024: Report

A new report from the financial insights firm Cornerstone Research claims that Gary Gensler slowed down crypto enforcement actions in his final year as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair.

According to the Cornerstone report titled “SEC Cryptocurrency Enforcement”, the last year of Gensler’s tenure witnessed a significant drop in crypto enforcement.

“After reaching the highest number of cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions in 2023, the SEC brought a total of 33 actions in 2024, a 30% decrease from the year prior. Half of the actions were brought in September and October…

In 2024, the SEC brought 33 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions against 90 defendants or respondents. Of these actions, 25 were litigations and eight were administrative proceedings. The most frequent allegations continued to be fraud and unregistered securities offerings. Of the 33 enforcement actions brought in 2024, 73% alleged fraud, 58% alleged an unregistered securities offering violation, and 39% alleged both.”

According to Cornerstone, 50% of all enforcement actions came in the final quarter of 2024.

However, despite the fall in enforcement actions, fees for penalties imposed by the SEC against crypto firms reached new record heights.

“Monetary penalties imposed in 2024 against digital-asset market participants reached a record high of $4.98 billion, almost entirely because of one multibillion-dollar settlement…

During 2024, the SEC obtained a total monetary settlement of $4.55 billion in SEC v. Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. et al., of which $4.05 billion consisted of disgorgement and prejudgment interest. This was the largest monetary penalty ever imposed in a cryptocurrency-related enforcement action.”

Three days ago, President Trump named Mark T. Uyeda as Acting Chairman of the SEC.

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