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On January 19, 2022, the research company Cornerstone Research published a report stating that under the new administration of the White House, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued its role as one of the main regulators in the field of cryptocurrency.
The document says that in 2021, the SEC filed 14 lawsuits in US federal courts, and also started 6 more administrative proceedings. Of these 20 enforcement actions, 70% were related to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
According to Abe Chernin, Vice President of Cornerstone Research, the Commission applies the Howey test to determine whether a crypto transaction qualifies as an investment contract that falls under SEC regulation rules. The researcher also predicted that in 2022, the Gansler department will continue to closely study the actions of some participants in the cryptocurrency market, especially DeFi decentralized finance platforms.
Under President Joe Biden, Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has made cryptocurrency regulation a key priority of his work. His office has been highly active in relation to crypto lending platforms, unregistered digital asset exchanges and DeFi. The total amount of fines imposed on violators amounted to $2.35 billion (from 2013 to 2021).
The American crypto community has been criticizing the SEC for its policy on digital assets. According to the former head of the Office of the Comptroller of the United States (OCC), Brian Brooks, the actions of the regulator led the country to lag behind the rest of the world in the development of blockchain technology.
Earlier, the editors of Crypto.ru reported that a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Don Stump called the SEC an error.
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