Yes, really. Here are the receipts.
In 2026, the SEC dropped or eased cases against at least 17 crypto firms that donated to Trump's inauguration, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Robinhood. These companies gave about $50M combined, prompting critics to say actions look like pay-to-play.
An SEC commissioner wrote that her own agency seemed afraid an appeals court would agree with the case it had already built. The $5 million inauguration donation and the White House crypto summit that came before the settlement...
A full accounting connects the dropped cases, the pardons, and the donations across the industry — including a case the government was winning when it walked away. The $4.9 million that made Ripple the inaugural fund's second-largest corporate donor...
Since January the SEC has walked away from Coinbase, Consensys, Kraken, and more, as executives wrote checks and attended the inauguration as official guests. Ripple's own lawyer explains why their case was harder to unwind...