As a financial content services agency, we closely follow updates from top regulators, key market announcements and trends happening in forex, regtech, wealthtech and fintech. Every month we round up the top regulatory announcements to ensure our clients stay informed. Here’s our financial regulations roundup for March 2025.
SEC Ends Numerous Lawsuits
The biggest financial regulations news came from the United States, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ended numerous lawsuits in the crypto industry. It ended suits against companies like Gemini, Uniswap, OpenSea, and Coinbase. It also entered into negotiations with Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, to end charges it brought against him a few years ago. The SEC has become more amenable to the cryptocurrency industry under Donald Trump. The new leadership hope to take a different approach compared to Gary Gensler, who focused on bringing lawsuits against large and small companies in the industry.
Proponents of the crypto industry hope that the SEC and other agencies will work together to craft friendly policies. In a note, an executive at Wormhole, a crypto company, said:
It seemed like the SEC on a whim could wake up on the wrong side of the bed and decide to bring in enforcement action or to file a Wells notice, or subpoena for information. That fear seems to have gone away, especially in light of these dismissals.
Opponents of the light-touch regulations argue that the new approach will lead to more scams and illegal activity. They point to the recent Bybit hacking, in which Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking consortium, stole $1.5 billion. Also, they point to the recent rug pull scams that have proliferated in the meme coin industry.
Trump Hires Pro-Crypto Leader To Lead The CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will also have a pro-crypto twist after Donald Trump appointed Brian Quintenz to lead the agency. Quintenz, a former regulator, has been a pro-crypto leader in the past few years.
He served on the advisory team of Crypto.com, one of the biggest crypto exchanges globally. Also, he has worked for Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital company that has invested in some of the top crypto projects in the industry like Avalanche, Coinbase, Alchemy Pay, Arweave, and Celo. This move could be big in terms of future financial regulations.
FCA To Slow New Policy Launches
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering moves to slow policy proposals and large-scale initiatives in the next five years. The move comes as the UK government seeks ways to boost the economy by ensuring that there is regulatory clarity.
For example, the FCA has decided to shelve a proposal to impose notice periods before investors can redeem money from property funds. In a statement, the FCA said:
There will be fewer large-scale changes over the next five years. We are also streamlining the policy pipeline, noting some measures to support growth require regulatory change and others are instigated by government and parliament.
Hedge Funds Blast Leverage Rules
Top hedge funds blasted global regulators for proposed new rules to restrict their use of leverage on trades and investments. Lobbying groups that represent top hedge funds like AQR and Citadel have warned that the proposals by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) will backfire. The FSB has identified the use of leverage as a key risk facing the market, pointing to some of the biggest events in the past few years. One of the biggest risks happened in 2021 when meme stocks like GameStop and AMC surged, leading to the collapse of some hedge funds.
SEC Warns About Private Credit ETF
The Securities and Exchange Commission raised concerns about a private credit ETF from Apollo and State Street. The new fund, which has already started to trade, aims to provide access to the private credit industry to retail traders. The agency warned that the fund may have risks surrounding how it would maintain liquidity and value private debt.
ESMA To Provide Knowledge Test For Crypto Advisors
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultative paper seeking comments on the proposed knowledge assessment for people providing information about crypto assets. These new guidelines are in line with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.
The new guidelines will ask advisors top questions to gauge their knowledge on areas like tax implications, fees and costs, and differences between MIFID II and MiCA.
Trump Regulations Overhaul
Donald Trump has proposed major changes that will impact regulations in the US. One of the major changes is that independent regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve and the SEC will submit draft regulations first to the White House. Another change is that the administration halted enforcements of law banning bribery of foreign officials. The administration believes that the restrictions place US companies at a disadvantage against their global peers. The US administration is also battling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFTC). It dismissed employees, and the government hinted that it will not seek more financing for the agency.
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