Kraken announced in a blog post that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had agreed to dismiss the commission’s lawsuit against the company.

According to the blog post, the SEC dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

Kraken made no admission of wrongdoing, paid no penalties, and did not make any changes to its business.

The lawsuit, originally filed in November 2023, accused Kraken of operating an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency.

The SEC alleged that Kraken’s actions deprived investors of “significant protections.”

In its blog post, Kraken attributed the case’s dismissal to changes in leadership at both the White House and the SEC.

The company maintained that the lawsuit was baseless, politically driven, and did little to clarify regulations for an industry seeking transparency.

“Instead of engaging in that hard but necessary work, prior leadership at the SEC and throughout the government took a regulation-by-enforcement approach that stifled progress and disadvantaged the US against other countries who fostered innovation through fair and transparent digital asset regulatory regimes,”

Kraken stated.

The company further emphasised its commitment to collaborating with policymakers and regulators to establish frameworks that safeguard consumers while enabling technological advancement.

“We are pleased that leadership in Congress and Commissioner (Hester M. Peirce’s) Crypto Task Force are taking up this difficult, mandatory work to put in place real, forward-thinking legislation and regulation,”

Kraken added.

The SEC introduced its Crypto Task Force on 21 January, with a focus on developing a “comprehensive and clear” regulatory framework for digital assets.

Kraken’s blog post was published four days after the SEC dropped its pending civil enforcement action against cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.

Featured image credit: edited from freepik