SEC official says more crypto exchanges could face charges: report

There could be more enforcement actions headed toward cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance projects, according to David Hirsch, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. 

Hirsch said the agency could bring new charges against crypto brokers, dealers, exchanges, clearing agencies and others who don’t make proper disclosures or register with the agency, according to a report from CoinDesk. Hirsch spoke Tuesday at the Securities Enforcement Forum Central in Chicago. 

Hirsch said the SEC was aware of and investigating firms involved in similar activity to those that prompted agency suits against Coinbase and Binance a few months ago. 

DeFi, too, may come into the spotlight, CoinDesk cited Hirsch as saying. 

Moving through the courts

The SEC has forged ahead in bringing high profile cases against crypto exchange Binance and then Coinbase a day later back in June. It's also been involved in a lengthy dispute with Ripple Labs. 

Recently, too, the agency brought two cases against NFT projects. 

Some companies including Grayscale Investments and Ripple have fought back, with three judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling in August that the SEC has to re-review Grayscale's bid for a spot bitcoin ETF after the asset management firm sued the agency last year following its rejection of the conversion of its flagship GBTC fund.

The case involving Ripple ended in a mixed verdict. The judge there ruled in July that some of Ripple's sales, called programmatic, of XRP did not violate securities laws because of a blind bid process in place for them. She also ruled that other direct sales of the token to institutional investors were securities, leaving a partial win for the SEC.