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This was quite<\/span> the year for the crypto industry. From funding shortfalls to the SBF saga playing out in public, the industry and its proponents had a wild year, especially with crypto prices fluctuating more than London\u2019s weather in April.<\/p>\n Still, regulation of crypto and how it is being set up to be enforced was at the forefront of everyone\u2019s minds in the crypto industry. And even though 2024 is going to distract everyone with the Presidential elections, many in the crypto industry are hopeful that clearer guidelines will be laid out in the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201c2023 has certainly seen some controversies, although in many ways, it has been a lull from the crypto winter and hangover from the crash of FTX and LUNA in 2022,\u201d Jack Vinijtrongjit, co-founder and CEO of web3 infrastructure company AAG, told TechCrunch+.<\/p>\n Multiple major scandals rocked the industry in 2022, and consequently, this year, we got front-row seats to the U.S. government\u2019s response. This month alone was intense for the crypto industry: Early in November, FTX\u2019s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven charges of fraud<\/a>, and then last week, Binance\u2019s CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down<\/a> after pleading guilty to a number of charges brought by several U.S. agencies for not cooperating with the country\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n But the rest of the industry \u201cdoesn\u2019t need to suffer because of what [Bankman-Fried] has been convicted of,\u201d said Anthony Sabino, professor of law at the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John\u2019s University. The former FTX CEO\u2019s actions shouldn\u2019t hold the industry accountable, Sabino said, but he acknowledged that the series of events that led to FTX\u2019s bankruptcy would result in regulators wanting to rule out the next SBF and deter other bad actors.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the long run, catching and punishing bad actors is good for an industry, including blockchain,\u201d said Adam Ettinger, partner at law firm FisherBroyles. \u201cIn the short run, nobody wants to go to Thanksgiving dinner and have to explain how their startup is nothing like Celsius or FTX.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the industry wishes the government and regulators could be clearer about regulation and set down concrete rules.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year, we have heard persistent and pervasive messages from the government, but the messages have been mixed,\u201d Ettinger said. \u201cOn one hand, the SEC brought 26 enforcement actions involving digital assets. On the other hand, we have members of Congress that understand the importance of blockchain innovation and are pushing to regulate the technology in a way that won\u2019t stifle our entrepreneurs or send them abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nMixed messages<\/h2>\n