PANews reported on January 24 that according to Cointelegraph, Cornerstone Research pointed out in a report on January 23 that in Gary Gensler's last year as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC only launched 33 cryptocurrency-related actions, compared with 47 actions in the previous year, the year with the most enforcement efforts. Last year, the SEC filed lawsuits against a total of 90 defendants or respondents in cryptocurrency enforcement actions, including 57 individuals and 33 companies.

The number of administrative proceedings also fell sharply, by more than 50%. Fines against cryptocurrency industry participants reached a record level of nearly $5 billion in 2024, with the SEC's $4.5 billion settlement with Terraform Labs accounting for a large part of it. Cornerstone said that more than half of the SEC's enforcement actions in 2024 occurred in September and October, while only four actions were initiated after the US election in November.

The most common allegation in the SEC's cryptocurrency lawsuits is fraud, accounting for 73% of the cases. Allegations of unregistered securities offerings came in second, accounting for 58%. The regulator also added charges of market manipulation and failure to register as a broker-dealer. The SEC under Gensler has initiated almost 80% more cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions than when Jay Clayton served as chairman from 2017 to 2020. Of the 207 cryptocurrency enforcement actions initiated by the SEC since 2013, 47% are related to ICOs and NFTs.