A fresh court filing has put the bittrex settlement back in focus, as the exchange asks a federal judge to unwind a $24 million deal with the SEC.
What Bittrex is asking the court to do
In a federal court motion filed last week, Bittrex said the agency has moved away from the enforcement theory used against the exchange during the Biden administration. Moreover, the company wants the judge to reverse the earlier ruling and order the SEC to return the penalty paid in 2023.
The exchange argues that the SEC no longer backs the legal theory at the center of the case. Instead, regulators have said repeatedly that most tokens do not fall under the definition of securities under the new approach.
According to the filing, the agency has also dropped nearly all similar actions and investigations involving exchanges and token issuers. Bittrex legal news now centers on its claim that continued enforcement of the agreement would be unfair after that reversal.
The original case and the 2023 agreement
The original lawsuit was brought during Joe Biden’s presidency. Bittrex was accused of offering unregistered securities through crypto trading services. However, the exchange later agreed to resolve the dispute by paying $24 million without admitting or denying the allegations.
In the filing, Bittrex lawyers said that, two years and a half after securing a settlement from a failed exchange based on the idea that the tokens traded on the platform were securities, the SEC has now acknowledged its theory was wrong and its enforcement strategy was misleading from the start. The company says the agency has since dropped all similar cases and probes, leaving only this one in place.
The request also cites documents showing that, in March, the SEC asked to transfer the $24 million to the U.S. Treasury Department for distribution to former Bittrex customers who may have suffered losses. Bittrex is now seeking to stop that transfer and recover the funds before any payout is made.
Why the exchange says the money should be returned
That said, Bittrex says the deal should not survive after the regulator’s shift in position. The company argues that allowing the payment to be distributed would lock in a result built on a theory the SEC no longer supports.
The exchange suspended its U.S. operations shortly after the agreement, saying it could no longer operate sustainably under the existing regulatory and economic environment. In parallel, the company also reached a separate crypto lawsuit refund settlement with the Treasury Department in 2022.
That earlier deal involved alleged sanctions issues tied to Iran, Cuba and Syria, and carried a total payment of about $29 million. Moreover, the latest dispute arrives as Washington’s stance on digital asset regulation continues to evolve.
Broader SEC crypto enforcement shift
Since returning to power, the Trump administration has, according to reports, pushed the SEC away from its earlier campaign of sec crypto enforcement actions. The agency has reportedly dismissed or paused several high-profile cases.
In addition, senior officials have said that many digital assets do not fall under securities laws. This policy change has become central to disputes like the bittrex settlement, where the company says the government’s legal position has changed too much to justify keeping the penalty in place.
The case now tests how far a shift in exchange regulation update can reach inside older settlements. It also raises broader questions about the future of the SEC’s earlier token securities case strategy and the durability of prior enforcement deals.
For now, Bittrex is trying to block the transfer of the $24 million and reopen a dispute it says no longer matches the SEC’s current position.
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Author: NixCoin