Companies that develop, manage or trade cryptocurrencies are beefing up their policy arms as regulators launch enforcement actions and consider new rules for the young industry.
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider-trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager, arguing that nine tokens involved in the scheme were securities. Days later, Bloomberg reported that the SEC was investigating whether Coinbase let users trade unregistered securities, and just last week, Forbes reported that the agency was investigating each of the 40-plus U.S. crypto exchanges—and Cayman Islands–based Binance—for potential security violations. Several members of Congress have introduced bills that would regulate crypto.