- The SEC has scrapped a civil case against the founder of BitClout.
- It comes one year after the Justice Department dismissed its case against the project.
- The SEC has scrapped a number of lawsuits since President Trump took power.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has scrapped a civil case against the founder of 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.
The SEC under new chairman Paul Atkins created a crypto task force to develop new regulatory frameworks aimed at helping the industry. The regulator has taken a remarkably more friendly approach to watchdogging the space since 2025.
Got clout?
BitClout, which debuted in 2020, was a project that wanted to convert Twitter (now X) personalities into tradable tokens. The idea was the users would be able to monetise their online followings.
Dubbed “new type of social network that mixes speculation and social media”, the project at first attracted a lot of attention, with some of some of crypto’s biggest names, including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, and the Winklevoss twins of Gemini backing it.
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.
But investors had early gripes with the project, complaining that the launch did not go ahead on time.
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.
A criminal case against Al-Naji was scrapped by the US Department of Justice in 2025.
Neither the SEC or Al-Naji could immediately be contacted for comment by DL News.
Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.