According to Decrypt, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it collected $8.2 billion in fines in fiscal year 2024, the highest in history. Of this, $4.5 billion came from the case against Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon.
Without the settlement, the SEC’s financial remediation would have been the lowest since 2013 at $3.72 billion. Terraform Labs is the developer of the Terra blockchain ecosystem, which is powered by the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and its sister token LUNA.
Despite a 26% drop in enforcement actions to 583, the SEC’s financial revenue increased by 65.5% from 2023. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler announced that he will step down on January 20, 2025.
Ripple Labs’ chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty criticized the SEC’s announcement, calling it a sign of regulatory failure. The crypto industry hopes Gensler’s departure marks the end of its “anti-crypto crusade.”