Ex-SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda Says Crypto Cases Were Dropped to Avoid Credibility Damage
Key Takeaways
- •Former acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda said the agency dismissed crypto-related civil cases in early 2025 because it was preparing a major reversal in rulemaking.
- •Uyeda explained that continuing the litigation would have damaged the SEC's credibility by requiring litigators to argue court positions conflicting with planned policy changes.
- •The dismissals covered cases against Kraken, Ripple Labs, Coinbase, and other firms, ending closely watched legal tests of the SEC's authority over digital assets.
- •Many critics characterized the case withdrawals as payback for the crypto industry's support of President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
- •With Hester Peirce's departure expected in November, the SEC will have only two of its five commissioner seats filled, and no replacement nominations have been announced.
Mark Uyeda, who served as acting chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before Paul Atkins's confirmation, said the agency dropped civil cases against cryptocurrency companies filed under the previous administration because it was preparing a "180-degree change" in rulemaking.
Speaking on a Wednesday panel at the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy's Financial Markets Quality Conference (video), Uyeda said the SEC dropped the cases involving crypto companies in early 2025 because pursuing them could have damaged the agency's credibility, requiring its litigators to argue positions in court that ran contrary to its planned policy changes. He argued there had been "significant concerns" about whether the cases against crypto companies were "justifiable under law."
"I'm not about to have our litigators, even though they're having cases that were authorized under the prior administration, stand up in court and have a commission interpretation be issued that is a 180-degree change from what they'd been arguing for that court," said the commissioner. "I think that hurts [our] credibility as an agency."
Under Uyeda, who led the SEC in an acting capacity from January to April 2025, the commission dropped cases filed against Kraken, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and other crypto firms. The dismissals ended closely watched legal battles with some of the most prominent companies in the crypto sector — disputes that had served as a key test of the SEC's authority over digital assets under the prior leadership. Many critics characterized the dismissals as payback for the industry's support of President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. Trump had pledged to fire then-Chair Gary Gensler, under whom many of the cases were brought, "on day one" if elected. Gensler resigned on the day Trump took office.
Uyeda has served an SEC commissioner since 2022 and currently sits on the agency's leadership alongside Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce. With Peirce's departure expected in November, the commission will be left with only two of its five seats filled, and Trump has not announced any nominations for potential replacements, leaving the panel that will steer the promised rulemaking shift in a period of transition.
