U.S. regulatory authorities have imposed a total of $32 billion in fines on cryptocurrency companies to resolve compliance disputes. The largest chunk of this sum was obtained through the payment of $19.45 billion in 2024, mainly due to a $12.7 billion settlement by FTX and Alameda Research. According to the decision of Judge Peter Castel, these firms are jointly and severally obligated to pay restitution of $8.7 billion to those who suffered losses, in addition to a $4 billion fee for the ill-gotten gains.
Terraform Labs was responsible for another significant portion of the fines, paying $4.5 billion in 2024, with the firm also owing about $3.59 billion in interest and a fine of $420 million. The founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, will pay $204.3 million, including interest, fines, and compensation, and will have to accumulate at least the same amount for the “bankruptcy estate” to be distributed among investors.
Other substantial fines were incurred by Binance and Celsius in 2023, with Binance paying $4.3 billion and Celsius paying $4.7 billion in fines. As part of the settlement, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, was ordered to pay a criminal fine of $1.81 billion and $2.51 billion in compensation, while Celsius and its subsidiaries were prohibited from offering, selling, or promoting any product or service that may be used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw any asset.
The past two years have seen a significant increase in the amount of settlements for claims by U.S. government agencies, with 16 out of 25 significant actions occurring in this period. This surge in enforcement actions followed the collapse of FTX in late 2022. In 2023, law enforcement agencies settled eight lawsuits for $10.87 billion, marking an increase of 8,327.1% over the previous year, and in 2024, another eight settlements were reached for $19.45 billion.
It’s worth noting that these figures do not include other payments imposed by the CFTC on individual top managers of cryptocurrency companies. For example, the founder of Binance recently agreed to pay a $50 million fine. Similarly, the founder of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, paid a fine of $10 million and was sentenced to two years of probation. The total fines for just these two individuals amounted to $60 million, indicating that the actual revenues for regulators may be even higher.