Could Trump’s win nix SEC crypto suits? Critics say he’s ‘pandering’ for votes

Donald Trump’s potential victory in the November elections could see several Securities and Exchange Commission crypto lawsuits dismissed, according to a crypto lawyer — but others note he has a history of not keeping promises.

“I wouldn’t settle any crypto case with the current SEC before seeing how the election turns out,” crypto lawyer James Murphy, known as “MetaLawMan,” wrote in a May 26 X post.

Murphy expects “a very different SEC” given Trump’s recent crypto promises.

In the past month, Trump has pitched himself as the crypto industry’s choice, saying he’s “fine with” crypto, that the United States “must be the leader in the field,” and recently promised to commute Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht’s life sentence if elected.

“I could imagine voluntary dismissals of crypto cases the [SEC Chair] Gary Gensler regime has initiated where there was no fraud and no victims,” Murphy added.

Source: James Murphy

In a contrarian X post, Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran claimed Trump “has a decades-long history of back peddling” and “selling out others for his own interests.”

“Just like Biden, Trump was previously anti-crypto and is pandering to get votes,” he added.

Two Prime hedge fund partner Alexander Blume made a similar argument, commenting that Trump “has a track record of making promises to desperate people/groups for his own ends and then not honoring those promises.”

Analysis from the fact-checking site PolitiFact claims Trump broke over half of the 102 promises made during his 2016 presidential campaign, compromised on 23 and kept 24.

Trump has a history of anti-crypto remarks, too.

As president, Trump tweeted he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” as they are “based on thin air.” In 2021 he also claimed crypto “may be fake” and is “a disaster waiting to happen.”

Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro, however, wrote on X that “Trump saying some mean words about crypto on Twitter” can’t be compared to “the four-year witch hunt the Biden admin has waged on crypto.”

Trumps past crypto remarks and election promises record won’t be enough to sway some crypto U.S. industry executives.

Crypto outlet The Block founder turned venture capitalist Mike Dudas said while he dislikes Trump “on like 1,000 different levels,” his promises mean “he’s going to allow me to pursue my livelihood and provide for my family, investors, founders and their employees.”

Trump has a one percentage point lead over President Joe Biden in Morning Consult’s 2024 presidential election polling.