TL;DR
- The SEC dropped the lawsuit against Dragonchain over its 2017 ICO, reflecting a shift in its policy toward digital assets.
- Paul Atkins’ arrival as SEC chairman led to the dismissal of several cases against crypto firms.
- Following the news, the DRGN token surged 155%, driven by market enthusiasm over a more flexible regulatory outlook.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to withdraw the lawsuit it had filed against blockchain firm Dragonchain, which it accused in 2022 of conducting an unregistered token offering.
The decision was formalized through a joint motion filed in court. It clearly reflects a change in the agency’s regulatory direction after a series of internal and policy adjustments.
The shift began to take shape with the creation of the Crypto Task Force, a unit tasked with defining more precisely which digital assets fall outside the SEC’s jurisdiction. This regulatory redefinition took hold after Donald Trump’s reelection and the departure of Gary Gensler, known for his strict and near-prohibitive approach to cryptocurrencies. Under his leadership, the agency had filed numerous lawsuits against crypto-related projects.
Gensler’s Departure Was a Relief for the Crypto Industry
With Paul Atkins as the SEC’s new chairman, the agency’s stance softened. In recent months, the entity dismissed or suspended several investigations against companies in the sector. Among them, cases against Coinbase and Cumberland DRW, as well as the closure without penalties of the case against Uniswap Labs and the investigation into CyberKongz, a project focused on NFTs and Ethereum-based games.
The founder of Dragonchain welcomed the court decision, stating that the industry can now focus on innovating without the constant fear of facing regulatory sanctions over ambiguous interpretations of existing rules. His statement came just after the SEC confirmed it would dismiss the case without filing new charges.
Dragonchain (DRGN) to the Moon!
The impact of the news was immediately felt in the market value of DRGN, Dragonchain’s native token, which soared astronomically within hours. According to data from CoinMarketCap, its price hit $0.1, marking a 155% increase in the last 24 hours. The token’s rally was fueled by investor enthusiasm in a climate that now seems increasingly favorable for crypto projects in the United States.
The SEC also dropped other proceedings. It recently announced that it would not move forward with lawsuits against Richard Heart, founder of the Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX projects, after determining that their operations did not target U.S. investors
