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Crypto lawsuits increased by almost 50% in 2022, study reveals

Crypto lawsuits increased by almost 50% in 2022, study reveals

Real broad interest in cryptocurrencies, and crypto exchanges, have just recently reached a high in the crypto industry’s early years compared to other financial sectors. As a result, there is still much discussion on how to regulate and legally govern crypto, and the public believes that many crimes using crypto go unpunished.

During the last half-decade, fresh data has shed light on cryptocurrency cases in the United States by investigating the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) crypto lawsuits as well as other class action claims. New research has, in fact, revealed crypto lawsuits increased by 46% in 2022, according to information from a new study from HedgewithCrypto, which analyzed crypto lawsuits and shared the information with Finbold on February 10.

Since 2018, a total of 105 lawsuits concerning cryptocurrencies have been filed with the SEC, with 2022 being the highest single-year total with 41 claims, increasing by 46% 

Crypto lawsuits since 2018. Source: HedgewithCrypto

This number includes 19 SEC filings and 22 class action securities lawsuits. The most recent crisis happened in December as a consequence of the failure of the FTX trading platform, and the former CEO of the company, Sam Bankman-Fried, is presently out on bail in the amount of $250 million as he faces a variety of accusations that have a maximum possible jail term of 115 years.

2nd highest number of crypto lawsuits in 2020

With 34 cases filed, 2020 witnessed the second-highest number of crypto lawsuits filed since 2018, an increase of over 62% from the previous year. Back in 2020, when cryptocurrency was thriving, the value of Bitcoin surged from $7,175 on January 1st to $28,985 on New Year’s Eve, a 300% gain.

The SEC also filed a few high-profile complaints this year, including one against John McAfee, the late businessman who was accused of failing to disclose payments while pushing a cryptocurrency product.

Additionally, there were a total of 30 cases filed regarding cryptocurrencies in the year 2018. In spite of the fact that the use of cryptocurrencies is nowhere near as ubiquitous as it was in 2021, a total of 30 SEC and class action lawsuits were filed in the United States, with the SEC being responsible for filing 16 of those claims.

Unregistered crypto assets were the most prevalent problem in cryptocurrency lawsuits filed by the SEC since 2018. Almost half of all cases were connected to this form of criminal activity, making it the most common issue in crypto litigation.

At the moment, in one of the most high profile cases, Ripple is struggling with the U.S. regulator in a widely publicized lawsuit in which the SEC is accusing the blockchain company of illegally selling the XRP token. 

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