On Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unveiled a new unit to stop crypto crime and protect retail investors, known as the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit.
Crypto crime has surged to an estimated $51 billion a year industry, according to the most recent figures from Chainalysis.
The new organization will succeed the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, a Biden-era enforcement group within the financial regulator tasked with policing bad actors and preventing illicit and fraudulent activities by crypto firms.
It will be helmed by SEC attorney Laura D’Allaird, who previously served as the co-chief of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit and as counselor to the SEC’s Director of Enforcement.
“Under Laura’s leadership, this new unit will complement the work of the Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. Importantly, the new unit will also allow the SEC to deploy enforcement resources judiciously,” said Mark Uyeda, the Acting Chairman of the SEC.
“The unit will not only protect investors but will also facilitate capital formation and market efficiency by clearing the way for innovation to grow,” Uyeda explained. “It will root out those seeking to misuse innovation to harm investors and diminish confidence in new technologies.”
The news of the unit follows the Trump administration’s decision to reduce the number of enforcement staff processing crypto crimes at the SEC, including by re-assigning lawyers to unrelated parts of the agency.
President Donald Trump has pushed for deregulation of the nascent crypto industry, arguing that it has been hamstrung by onerous regulations and excessive regulatory burdens. “So-called independent agencies like the… SEC have exercised enormous power over the American people without presidential oversight,” Trump said earlier this week. “These agencies issue rules and regulations that cost billions of dollars and implicate some of the most controversial policy matters.”
“Now they will no longer impose rules on the American people without oversight or accountability,” Trump added.