A lot happened in politics related to crypto this year. Congress passed — and the president signed — the first major piece of crypto legislation in US history this year. Federal regulators have dramatically scaled back their enforcement measures against crypto companies while announcing several rulemaking efforts aimed at strengthening the industry. Companies themselves have felt more emboldened to launch new products and services in the US
You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter that looks at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.
The narrative
Last year, CoinDesk’s policy team explained what we’d be looking for in 2025. Here’s how we did it.
Why it matters
This is the final edition of this newsletter for 2025. A lot happened and we will definitely be busy well into 2026.
To break it down
On December 31, 2024, I wrote that “it seems quite likely that the agency may change how it approaches future lawsuits against crypto industry participants. Less clear is how the agency may handle its ongoing cases against companies like Coinbase, Binance, Binance.US, Kraken and others. No attorney seems to think the SEC will outright dismiss these cases.”
The SEC has dismissed the vast majority of cases it pursued last year.
Other trials played out largely as expected; Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal is ongoing, Roman Storm’s case ended in a partial conviction with post-trial motions still ongoing, Do Kwon pleaded guilty to some charges, and there are still a small number of active cases we’re tracking.
Jesse Hamilton noted that while Congress would work on legislation, “bottom line: post-election tension often descends into why-is-it-taking-so-long.”
While the GENIUS Stablecoin Act became law – which also confirms Cheyenne Ligon’s analysis – the ongoing negotiations over the more important Market Structure Act bear out Jesse’s analysis.
The regulatory world has become much more complex when it comes to digital assets, in the sense that an increasing number of nations are advancing their approaches to digital assets. It ranges from regulations in the US to new licenses being issued in the Middle East to Russia’s changing approach to digital assets.
This week
- Happy New Year everyone!
If you have thoughts or questions about what I’ll be discussing next week or any feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.
You can also join the group conversation on Telegram.
See you next week!
