Nexo Reportedly Bringing Crypto Operation Back to US

Two years after paying a $45 million fine, cryptocurrency company Nexo is returning to America.

As Reuters reported, the company announced this plan Sunday (April 28) at a conference in Sofia, Bulgaria while hosting Donald Trump, Jr., eldest son of the U.S. President.

The younger Trump was the star speaker at the conference, dubbed “Trump Business Vision 2025” and hosted by Nexo.

Nexo Co-founder Antoni Trenchev told Reuters that the company aims to return to the U.S. in the coming months, and that it was having “constructive” conversations with regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

He added that Trump Jr. was not helping Nexo’s return but was “spreading the message that crypto is important to the United States and setting the stage.”

Nexo left the U.S. following clashes with regulators over its crypto lending product, which caused Nexo agreeing to pay a $45 million settlement to the SEC and state regulators in January of 2023.

As Reuters notes, the company’s re-entry is happening as the Trump administration is ushering in a sea change in U.S. crypto policy.

Under Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, regulators had cracked down on crypto companies following a series of industry scandals and collapses in 2022.

But with Trump in office, the SEC has either dropped or suspended several lawsuits against crypto companies, while banking regulators have pulled guidance cautioning banks to be wary about crypto-related risks.

Trenchev, who had served as a lawmaker in Bulgaria, told Reuters there had been a “tectonic shift” in America’s view on digital currencies.

“It is more than just mere talk, there is actual work being done so that the United States does emerge as the place to be for crypto, and we are experiencing this first hand,” Trenchev said.

But despite the shifting regulatory attitudes, crypto companies still need to keep their guards up, Dan Boyle, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster recently.

“This shouldn’t be seen as a get out of jail free card. It’s just a change in posture and market participants have to recognize that,” he said.

Instead, it’s an acknowledgment that hostility doesn’t help to bring about compliance or innovation. And as compliance improves at major exchanges and stablecoin issuers, Boyle forecasts a divergence within the crypto ecosystem.

“You’re going to see a divide between some companies which become compliant and others that want to stay outside of it,” he said. “You’ll just see less in the gray area.”