> You can't expect people to obey the law if you won't tell them what it is.
Good thing this wasn't happening with crypto fraud. Wire fraud is pretty much the same even with blockchain.
That's an excuse the crypto community dreamed up. The SEC's position, pre-Trump, was quite clear: crypto assets are securities. File an S-1, as you would for an IPO, with all the usual disclosures, under penalty of perjury. A very few crypto issues did that.
This new statement is mostly about crypto "exchanges". Pure exchanges aren't so bad. At no point in a trade does the NYSE own the asset. It's that crypto exchanges are usually not just exchanges, but brokers, dealers, custodians, and lenders. All of which can lose assets.
Actual memo: [1] It doesn't really change much. Frauds against investors can still be prosecuted.
"Regulation by enforcement" has been a real thing and a bad thing. You can't expect people to obey the law if you won't tell them what it is.
I would like to see the government prosecute actual fraud, so if the article goes on to say they will not prosecute that, then maybe the headline is accurate.