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In March 2026, enforcement authorities continued to bring, resolve and refine actions involving digital assets across securities, derivatives, banking and criminal enforcement frameworks. During this period, the SEC moved to resolve long-running crypto market manipulation litigation through a proposed settlement involving wash trading allegations, while also dismissing certain civil enforcement actions based on case-specific considerations. The CFTC obtained an injunction and monetary penalty against an offshore exchange for unregistered trading activity, resolved charges against a former FTX executive through a cooperation-based consent order and issued targeted no-action relief to a self-custodial wallet provider. Federal and state authorities also pursued criminal and civil actions alleging fraud, money laundering, misuse of customer or government funds through DeFi and other crypto transactions and violations of state betting and money transmission laws, while foreign regulators imposed significant penalties for onboarding and compliance failures.
Against that enforcement backdrop, Congress continues to debate comprehensive digital assets market structure legislation. On April 20, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told reporters that the Senate Banking Committee should not mark up the legislation until May. This comes as Sen. Tillis and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) have yet to release a final proposal that resolves ongoing disagreements between traditional banks and cryptocurrency firms over stablecoin yields. Banks have expressed concern that stablecoin rewards will reduce lending by discouraging deposits at banks. However, on April 8, the White House released a report finding little evidence to support this claim, consistent with President Trump’s support for stablecoin rewards and his recent statement that “Americans should earn more money on their money.” Following the President’s lead, key advisers, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, have pressed Congress to pass the bill without accommodations for banks. While these efforts may increase urgency among Senate Banking Committee members, final passage remains uncertain, especially as members begin to shift their focus to the fall elections.
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