The SEC has scrapped a civil case against the founder of the decentralized crypto social network BitClout. Court documents filed this week show that Nader Al-Naji will not pay any penalties and that the case has been dismissed with prejudice, citing the SEC’s new crypto task force as one of the reasons for dismissal. On January 21, 2025, the Commission’s then Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda launched a crypto task force dedicated to helping the Commission develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets, the document read. The dismissal comes after US regulators have scrapped a number of lawsuits against top crypto companies, including Coinbase, Binance, and Ripple since President Donald Trump took power.
BitClout, which debuted in 2020, was a project that wanted to convert Twitter (now X) personalities into tradable tokens. BitClout had its own token, BTCLT, which was described as “like Bitcoin” by the project because of its supposed decentralized nature — “just code and coins”, the project’s whitepaper read. In 2024, feds then charged ex-Google engineer Al-Naji with one count of wire fraud, alleging that he defrauded investors of $3 million. The SEC the next year alleged the project defrauded investors and that Al-Naji and others used their cash to fund a lavish lifestyle.
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