The SEC and state regulators have brought more than 90 crypto cases over the past two years, as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies swung from highs to recent lows. So far, the regulators have only managed to claw back about $36 million for duped investors, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. One of the attractions of digital currency is its anonymity. That feature, compounded in some cases by front companies and fake owners, can also make it hard for investigators to trace funds. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton warned a year ago that his agency “may not be able to effectively pursue bad actors or recover funds” invested in digital tokens, in part because the proceeds often end up overseas. Most of the federal and state cases were designed to close the more clearly illegal digital-coin offerings, as officials fought to tame a market they said was rife with fraud, including Ponzi schemes and pump and dumps, a review by the Journal found. But regulators filed few cases at the height of crypto frenzy, when scores of new companies were offering digital coin investments and bitcoin was soaring in late 2017. The SEC produced more results in recent months as the market fell. The commission filed five cases in November, compared with four in all of 2017.
