US regulators, including the SEC and CFTC, have collected billions of dollars in settlements from crypto businesses so far this year alone.
Market tracking platform CoinGecko revealed this figure in a study published on October 10th. According to the study, US regulators have earned about $32 billion from crypto companies in the past five years, and $19 billion this year alone.
Settlement amount exceeds XRP market capitalization
The numbers have caught the attention of market watchers, with commentators like Bitning founder Kashif Raza drawing surprising comparisons. Specifically, Raza pointed out that the $32 billion paid by crypto companies exceeds the market capitalization of XRP, the seventh largest cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency companies paid $19 billion in settlements to US regulators in 2024.
The US government holds an additional $12.7 billion worth of Bitcoin due to seizures.
Their revenue from cryptocurrencies is $31.7 billion, which is more than the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies. $XRP Alone.
— Kashif Raza (@simplykashif) October 14, 2024
XRP’s market cap is currently $30.96 billion, but its fully diluted market cap would be $54.63 billion.
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Settlements in the spotlight in 2024
Most of the funds from the enforcement action came from a resolution between bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its affiliate Alameda. In August, FTX Estates settled its bankruptcy case with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for $12.7 billion.
This was followed by Terraform Labs, which agreed to a $4.5 billion settlement with the SEC in June 2024. Additionally, crypto asset firm Genesis submitted a $2 billion settlement offer to the New York Attorney General in May.
Village with high attention
Notably, cryptocurrency company Ripple, which uses XRP for payments, was also ordered to pay a $125 million fine to the US SEC. This number could be fixed, increased, or decreased depending on the outcome of the appeal the SEC plans to file.
US regulatory settlements jump 14,977% in two years
Total payments in 2024 are already 78% higher than last year, with eight payments driving the increase this year. By comparison, all eight settlements in 2023 resulted in $10.87 billion in fines, while $19.45 billion has already been imposed in 2024.
Astonishingly, settlements have skyrocketed by 14,977% compared to 2022, when there were just two settlements totaling $129 million.
Settlement collected by US regulators
Among the decisive settlements in 2023 was the US Department of Justice’s $4.3 billion fine against the Binance exchange. Binance founder Qiao Changpeng was recently released from prison during a mandatory execution.
Lim Yu Qian, a research analyst at CoinGecko, believes that given the tenacity of US regulators, there could be several more settlements by the end of 2024.
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