U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; independent federal agency overseeing securities markets and protecting investors
Background
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is an independent federal regulatory agency established by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, responsible for enforcing federal securities laws, regulating securities markets, and protecting investors. It oversees stock exchanges, broker-dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds. Under the Trump administration beginning in 2025, the SEC took a markedly different approach to cryptocurrency enforcement, including issuing guidance declaring that memecoins were not securities, a determination that critics noted benefited Donald Trump directly as he had launched his own memecoin.