• OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer criticizes the SEC’s past enforcement tactics, calling them overly broad and damaging to crypto innovation.
  • With new leadership under Chair Paul Atkins, the SEC is rolling back several high-profile crypto cases, signaling a shift in regulatory tone.

The shadow of aggressive regulatory action continues to loom over the crypto industry, with OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer calling out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for what he describes as a misguided approach during the Biden administration.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Finzer reflected on how the SEC’s broad-brush tactics, particularly under former Chair Gary Gensler, created a “regulatory overhang” that stifled innovation and blurred lines between legitimate crypto projects and bad actors.

“There's all sorts of digital assets, you know, you shouldn't treat them all the same. That's obvious,” said Finzer. “But I think the approach that the prior SEC was taking was kind of this, you know, very, very generic.”

OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, was among the companies targeted by the SEC in 2024. The agency issued a Wells notice — often a precursor to formal charges — alleging that OpenSea functioned as an unregistered securities exchange. Finzer publicly pushed back, criticizing what he saw as “regulation by enforcement” and vowing that the company would fight the allegations in court.

This action came amid a broader crackdown on the crypto sector, which intensified following the 2022 collapse of FTX, sparking investor fears and sending the market into a prolonged downturn.

The NFT sector, once hailed as the next frontier in digital ownership, saw trading volumes collapse, forcing platforms like OpenSea to downsize dramatically, including laying off half of its workforce in 2023.

The regulatory environment appears to be shifting under the current SEC leadership, now helmed by Chair Paul Atkins under the Trump administration. The agency has scaled back or withdrawn several high-profile legal cases, including those against OpenSea, Coinbase, Kraken, Yuga Labs, Uniswap, and even Ripple, signaling a new tone from Washington.

This change follows the 2024 U.S. election, where the crypto industry emerged as a formidable lobbying force, contributing over $119 million through super PACs to support pro-crypto candidates, with Donald Trump campaigning on promises to make America “the crypto capital of the planet.”

Finzer remains optimistic about the future, hoping for a regulatory framework that can protect consumers without stifling innovation.

“Good crypto regulation needs to balance, sort of, protecting consumers but also preserving the ability to innovate,” he said. “It’s not just a one-size-fits-all problem, right?”

Meanwhile, OpenSea is evolving. While NFT volumes remain well below their 2021 peak, Finzer sees growing promise in areas like gaming and art collectibles, and the company is now expanding its focus to broader onchain trading.

“I mean, for the first time in the history of the internet, people have the ability to own digital stuff, right, in a real way,” he said. “ You can move them around between different applications and take them with you wherever you go on the internet. And that's something that's really powerful.”

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah