The head of the Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Division of Enforcement has left the agency after nine years of service. Under his guidance, the SEC took many enforcement actions against crypto firms, including major crypto trading exchanges Binance and Coinbase.
SEC’s Crypto Enforcement Unit Leader Departs
David Hirsch, the chief of the Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has announced his departure from the agency. Hirsch shared this news on Linkedin on Monday:
This past Friday was my last day with the SEC after almost 9 years.
“During that time I had the opportunity to work on more complex, challenging investigations and issues than I ever imagined when I joined the agency as a staff attorney in the Fort Worth Regional Office. I’m particularly proud of the historic work done by the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit team I had the privilege to lead,” he stated. “Securities enforcement is a team sport, and that was certainly true throughout my tenure. Every success I was a part of was the direct result of collaboration and combined efforts towards a common goal.”
While Hirsch did not disclose his future plans, he said: “I am very excited for the next set of challenges. I look forward to sharing more about that soon, but for now I’m excited for a break and travel with my family before my son heads to college in the fall.”
Hirsch has been instrumental in the SEC’s enforcement actions against major cryptocurrency firms. Under his leadership, the SEC aggressively targeted violations in the crypto sector, including unregistered securities offerings, fraud, and market manipulation. In September of last year, Hirsch cautioned that further enforcement actions against crypto firms not properly registered with the regulator were imminent. His departure is significant, occurring amid the SEC’s ongoing efforts to regulate the crypto market, often described as “regulation by enforcement.”
In November last year, the SEC stated: “Fiscal year 2023 was another highly productive and impactful year for the SEC’s enforcement efforts relating to crypto asset securities.” The regulator highlighted several high-profile crypto cases involving Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon, Richard Heart and his controlled entities, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), Genesis and Gemini, Celsius, Kraken, Nexo, Beaxy, Bittrex, Binance, and Coinbase.
Source: Bitcoin
