The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the creation of the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) to tackle fraud and cybercrime in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.
This new unit was launched on February 20, 2025, to replace the former Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit of the SEC and aims to improve the protection of investors who invest in the emerging technology space. The CETU will consist of 30 fraud specialists and attorneys from various SEC offices.
Laura D. Allaird who was previously the leader of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, has taken on the role of the head of the new division. Under her leadership, the SEC has moved forward and prosecuted important cases, including one of the largest cases that the SEC has prosecuted to date relating to the Kik Interactive case for securities law violations.
The mandate of CETU has now grown in scope and will now be used for prosecutorial roles for blockchain, cryptocurrencies, AI and all other new emerging technologies.
Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda stressed that the unit would not only look after the protection of investors but also support a transparent and efficient market. CETU will focus on the investigation of fraudulent acts which are linked to securities trading activities, as well as social media scams, dark web schemes and the fraudulent creation of websites.
SEC Cracking Down on Rising Crypto Scams
The establishment of CETU appears to occur at the same time as the crypto industry is seeing increasing concerns about fraud. A recent example is the famous LIBRA meme coin scandal, which appeared to involve the Argentine President by the name of Javier Milei.
The scheme led to $250 million worth of investor losses being extracted from the crypto industry. Similarly, the Jupiter decentralized exchange where the meme coin token was launched had reported accounts of fraud within the community.
In 2024 the SEC took 33 enforcement actions against crypto fraud with $8.2 billion in penalties. This was a significant portion of all actions that were taken, which came down to the cases seen against Terraform Labs and founder Do Kwon.
SEC still lacks Clarity
Despite the efforts made it is true that some industry figures argue that the SEC’s current regulatory approach lacks clarity. Nic Pickrin, co-founder of The Coin Bureau disagrees with the current stance taken by the SEC on meme coins, adding that the current lack of clear guidelines has made such coins easy targets for scams.
With the successful formation of CETU, the SEC is planning on providing more stringent regulation and higher levels of disclosure as the crypto and emerging sectors continue to increase in size and number of companies.
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