Zcash Foundation: US SEC ends years-long investigation without taking enforcement action

On January 15, the Zcash Foundation announced this Wednesday that the U.S. SEC has officially concluded its years-long investigation into the organization and clarified that it does not plan to take any enforcement actions or require any corrective measures. The foundation disclosed that it received a SEC subpoena in August 2023, related to “Certain Crypto Asset Offerings.” Currently, the SEC has completed its review and closed the case. A SEC spokesperson responded that the regulatory agency “does not comment on whether an investigation exists.” This closure comes amid a shift in the SEC’s stance on crypto regulation. During the Trump administration, the SEC withdrew or terminated enforcement actions or investigations against several crypto organizations over nearly a year, including CEX and multiple DeFi projects, which was markedly different from the tougher “enforcement-style regulation” approach during the Biden administration. The current SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, is pushing for updates to crypto regulation rules through “Project Crypto,” focusing on on-chain activities and technological realities. Notably, the Zcash ecosystem has recently experienced turbulence. On January 8, all staff of Electric Coin Company, the core developer of Zcash, resigned collectively due to structural disagreements with their parent organization’s board. In response, the Zcash Foundation emphasized that its commitment to the protocol remains unchanged and pointed out that the Zcash network operates independently of any single organization or entity; organizational adjustments within the ecosystem do not imply that the health of the network itself has been compromised.