Zcash Foundation: SEC Concludes Multi-Year Investigation Without Taking Enforcement Action

ChainCatcher News: On Wednesday, the Zcash Foundation announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally concluded its multi-year investigation into the organization and explicitly stated that it does not intend to take any enforcement actions or request rectifications. The foundation revealed that it received a subpoena from the SEC in August 2023, and the investigation was part of the SEC's broader probe titled "In the Matter of Certain Crypto Asset Offerings." The SEC has now completed its review and closed the case. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on whether investigations were ongoing, stating that the agency "does not comment on the existence of investigations." This case closure occurs amid a shift in the SEC's regulatory stance toward cryptocurrency. Under the Trump administration, the SEC has withdrawn or terminated enforcement actions or investigations against multiple crypto entities in the past year, including Coinbase and several DeFi projects, a marked contrast to the Biden administration's more aggressive "enforcement-driven regulation" approach. The current SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, is advancing the "Project Crypto" initiative to update crypto regulations, with a particular focus on on-chain activities and technological realities. Notably, the Zcash ecosystem has recently experienced turbulence. On January 8, all employees of Electric Coin Company, the core development team behind Zcash, resigned due to structural disagreements with the board of its parent organization. In response, the Zcash Foundation emphasized its unwavering commitment to the protocol, noting that the Zcash network is independent of any single organization or entity. It also clarified that organizational changes within the ecosystem do not equate to a decline in the health of the network itself.