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Nexo returns to the American marketplace

Trump-era regulatory shift contributed to Nexo's resurgence in the US, according to co-founder Antoni Trenchev. The cryptocurrency lending company's return was preceded by unsuccessful regulatory negotiations and was followed by a $45 million SEC penalty.

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Nexo makes its return to the U.S. market
Nexo makes its return to the U.S. market

Nexo returns to the American marketplace

In a significant move, Nexo, a leading cryptocurrency lending platform, announced its re-entry into the U.S. market following a two-year hiatus. The announcement was made at an event headlined by Donald Trump Jr., emphasising the potential significance of regulatory frameworks in the crypto industry.

Since early 2023, the U.S. cryptocurrency regulatory environment has been shaped by a complex and evolving web of federal enforcement actions, state laws, and legislative initiatives. The SEC has intensified its scrutiny of crypto projects, as evidenced by its 2023 cease-and-desist order against the NFT project Stoner Cats 2, the first such order against an NFT entity. This push to apply securities laws to digital assets has been accompanied by a settlement with Ripple, which has helped reduce legal uncertainty for institutional crypto investors and influenced the classification of crypto tokens under securities law.

The federal administration's influence on the regulatory landscape is nuanced. Although the Trump administration pursued deregulatory actions, such as dissolving the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and reducing SEC enforcement activities, this created regulatory ambiguity and gaps, leading to challenges in investor protection and allowing bad actors to exploit vulnerabilities.

The U.S. Congress passed the GENIUS Act by mid-2025, establishing clear regulatory guardrails specifically for payment stablecoins. This legislation imposes strict reserve, disclosure, and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and explicitly excludes certain payment stablecoins from classification as securities or commodities under federal law. It also provides strong consumer protection mechanisms, including asset segregation and priority claims in insolvency.

State-level regulations add another layer of complexity to the regulatory landscape. New York’s BitLicense and California’s Digital Financial Assets Law impose stringent compliance requirements, while states such as Wyoming and Texas promote more crypto-friendly environments.

The SEC's Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as the "Crypto Mom," has been instrumental in the regulatory evolution. Although no specific, sweeping regulatory reforms attributed solely to her leadership have been highlighted, her principled and tireless advocacy for common-sense crypto policy within the United States continues to shape the SEC's approach.

Nexo's return to the U.S. market comes amidst a series of regulatory actions against the platform. In early 2023, the SEC charged a number of crypto firms, including Gemini and Genesis, Kraken, and Nexo, with regulatory violations. Nexo agreed to pay $45 million to the SEC to resolve allegations that it sold unregistered securities through its EIP in 2023. Regulators in eight states also filed administrative actions against Nexo, claiming its Earn Interest Product qualified as a security.

Despite these challenges, newly minted SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who previously served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and most recently was co-chair of the Token Alliance, praised Commissioner Peirce, calling her the right person to lead the effort to come up with a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets.

Nexo's re-entry into the U.S. market signals a growing confidence in the maturing regulatory environment. Nexo products such as high-yield crypto savings accounts, asset-backed credit lines, advanced trading, and institutional-grade liquidity solutions are now available to U.S.-based retail and institutional clients.

The return of Nexo, coupled with Donald Trump Jr.'s support, underscores the potential for the financial sector to embrace and bring cryptocurrency back to the U.S. Trump Jr., who launched a crypto company with his family during Trump Sr.'s presidential campaign, stated that they see the opportunity for the financial sector and want to ensure they bring it back to the U.S.

As the regulatory landscape continues to evolve, market participants will face a blend of increased institutional clarity, stronger consumer protections in stablecoins, but also regulatory uncertainty in many digital assets outside of clear securities classification.

  1. Nexo's re-entry into the U.S. market, announced at an event headlined by Donald Trump Jr., highlights the potential importance of regulatory frameworks in the crypto industry.
  2. The SEC's intense scrutiny of crypto projects is demonstrated by its 2023 cease-and-desist order against the NFT project Stoner Cats 2, the first such order against an NFT entity.
  3. In 2023, the SEC charged several crypto firms, including Nexo, with regulatory violations, with Nexo agreeing to pay $45 million to resolve allegations that it sold unregistered securities.
  4. The U.S. Congress passed the GENIUS Act by mid-2025, providing clear regulatory guardrails for payment stablecoins and enhancing consumer protection mechanisms.
  5. State-level regulations add complexity to the regulatory landscape, with states like New York and California imposing stringent compliance requirements, while states like Wyoming and Texas promote more crypto-friendly environments.
  6. The SEC's Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as the "Crypto Mom," has been instrumental in shaping the regulatory approach to crypto assets in the United States.
  7. The return of Nexo, a leading cryptocurrency lending platform, signals a growing confidence in the maturing regulatory environment for digital assets.
  8. In the evolving regulatory landscape, market participants will face a blend of increased institutional clarity, stronger consumer protections in stablecoins, but also regulatory uncertainty in many digital assets outside clear securities classification.
  9. Trump Jr.'s support for Nexo's re-entry into the U.S. market, as well as his involvement in a crypto company during his father's presidential campaign, indicates a potential future for the financial sector and crypto industry in the U.S.
  10. Regulatory policy and legislation, such as the actions taken by the SEC and the passage of the GENIUS Act, play a significant role in shaping the finance, technology, and business sectors, including the cryptocurrency industry, personal-finance, fintech, banking-and-insurance, data-and-cloud-computing, social-media, entertainment, sports, sports-betting, crime-and-justice, and general-news.

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