SEC forms new cyber unit

The Securities and Exchange Commission created a new Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit on February 20, 2025, folding crypto, artificial intelligence and hacking cases into one enforcement team. (sec.gov) The unit, known as the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, replaced the agency’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit and started with about 30 fraud specialists and attorneys across multiple Securities and Exchange Commission offices. Laura D’Allaird was named chief. (sec.gov) The Securities and Exchange Commission said the team will pursue fraud involving blockchain and crypto assets, scams using artificial intelligence and machine learning, fake websites, social media manipulation, dark web activity, brokerage account takeovers and hacking for material nonpublic information. It also said the unit will examine whether regulated firms follow cybersecurity rules and whether public companies make false cybersecurity disclosures. (sec.gov) The change came one month after Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda launched a separate Crypto Task Force on January 21, 2025, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. That task force was set up to write clearer rules for crypto markets and registration, while the new unit was framed as the enforcement arm for fraud and investor-protection cases. (sec.gov, sec.gov, sec.gov) Uyeda said the new unit would “complement” the Crypto Task Force and let the agency deploy enforcement resources “judiciously.” In the January 21 announcement, he said the agency’s earlier crypto approach relied too heavily on enforcement actions and left “confusion about what is legal.” (sec.gov, sec.gov) That split marked a reset from the previous structure, where crypto policy and crypto cases were more tightly linked inside a single enforcement unit. Under the new setup, the Crypto Task Force handles policy and public input, while the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit focuses on misconduct tied to securities transactions. (sec.gov, sec.gov) The agency signaled the shift again on February 27, 2025, when it moved to dismiss its civil enforcement case against Coinbase. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the dismissal was meant to facilitate the Crypto Task Force’s work and “rectify” an approach that had expressed crypto policy through enforcement without broader public engagement. (sec.gov) For investors, the practical change was narrower than “the Securities and Exchange Commission is going soft on crypto.” The agency said it was still keeping a dedicated team for fraud involving crypto assets and blockchain technology, while moving rule-writing and registration questions into a separate process led by Peirce. (sec.gov, sec.gov, sec.gov) The new unit also widened the target list beyond crypto at a moment when retail scams were spreading through artificial intelligence tools, impersonation sites and compromised brokerage accounts. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s message was that emerging technology cases would still be a priority, but the agency wanted to separate fraud policing from fights over how crypto businesses should register. (sec.gov, sec.gov)