CFTC Racked Up Crypto Enforcement Record in Past Year

The CFTC said Thursday that 20% of its 82 enforcement actions for the 2022 fiscal year dealt with crypto industry

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Around 18 digital-asset-related actions have been undertaken from June 2021 to June 2022, the regulator said
  • The CFTC’s posturing highlights an ongoing power struggle between itself and the SEC over how crypto should be regulated

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Thursday the crypto industry made up more than 20% of all enforcement cases filed for the 2022 financial year, as questions over which US regulator should police digital assets remain front and center.

Around 18 actions relating to digital assets were executed for the year reported, the commission said, including against the operators of the Digitex Futures exchange and Gemini’s alleged “false and misleading” statements relating to its application for a bitcoin futures contract in 2017.

Debate over which US regulator — the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — should be the one charged with the industry’s oversight stems from arguments around the asset class’ definition as either a commodity or a security.

The SEC — charged with overseeing securities regulation in the US — wants full control over how it polices most of the privately created digital coins on the market, including stablecoins. 

It draws its reasoning from a more than 80-year-old Supreme Court case and seeks to apply that same reasoning to digital assets, which, according to some, is not without its pitfalls.

The CFTC, meanwhile, is also vying for that same control, as it would bring additional revenue to the respective agencies whilst bolstering their mandates over certain financial instruments.

CFTC and SEC battle for King of the Hill

In a surprising move, SEC chair Gary Gensler last month said he would be happy for the CFTC to regulate bitcoin — the world’s largest crypto by market capitalization —  and “other non-security tokens” while his agency had the pick of the rest.

For years, the SEC has attempted to define crypto as securities, which would bring most crypto under its purview. The regulator has pursued legal action against several high-profile industry-related firms including Ripple Labs, whose legal fight still lingers, pending an outcome in a US district court.

Earlier this year, the regulator alleged in a complaint against a former Coinbase product manager that nine crypto tokens were securities, seemingly a bid to establish a legal precedent over the asset class.

Regardless, the CFTC continues to plow ahead in its own ambition to be the premier industry regulator. Last month, the commission simultaneously filed and settled its case against decentralized autonomous organization bZeroX DAO and its founders for facilitating margined and leveraged retail commodity transactions.

That marked the first time the CFTC had brought an action against a DAO.

A week later, a Judge ruled the CFTC had sound legal footing to serve a summons to bZeroX DAO successor, Ooki DAO, through its online help chat box. That action raised eyebrows among lawyers working with the industry.

While the debate over how to define crypto continues, it is ultimately up to congress to decide which regulator will take the reins. 

Senators in August introduced their Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, suggesting the CFTC should be the one to control crypto’s spot markets, namely bitcoin and ether but potentially others.

With mounting cases brought against defendants in the 2022 financial year, the CFTC, at least for now, could be demonstrating its willingness to heed that call.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard