The United States Securities Exchange Commission continues to scrutinize crypto as its compliance part adds fintech and digital assets to its annual priorities list.

Per a Jan. seven annunciation from the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE), the bureau has put new fiscal technologies including digital assets amid major concerns in the coming financial year.

In the words of the regulator, new technological developments in capital germination and investment advice "warrant ongoing attention and review."

The OCIE's work

OCIE made a similar announcement at the beginning of 2022. At that time, however, the office said that:

"OCIE volition go along to monitor the offer and sale, trading, and management of digital assets, and where the products are securities, examine for regulatory compliance."

As the part responsible for investigating perhaps illicit usage of securities, it makes sense that OCIE would exist on the alert for compliance, merely today's proclamation may suggest a sea modify.

OCIE's 2022 priorities for crypto differ from those of 2022 in that they seem more than broadly interested in the positive potential of financial technologies. The office wrote that "OCIE also will continue to identify and examine SEC-registered firms engaged in the digital asset space" — possibly indicating a less retributive stance towards crypto in 2022.

The SEC in 2022

There is no incertitude that the SEC has broadly stepped up its engagement with cryptocurrencies, particularly initial coin offerings (ICOs) that it determines to be unregistered securities offerings.

Famous examples of SEC actions against such ICOs include messenging apps Kik with its KIN token and Telegram with its GRAM offer, besides equally its $24 million settlement with block.one over the EOS tokens native to its dApp platform.

Speaking with Cointelegraph concluding month, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce expressed interest in promoting a more flexible regulatory approach to crypto offerings, including identifying offerings that don't autumn under the SEC's purview. She said:

"The biggest thing the crypto community needs is a way to get from a securities offering to a utility token offering that is not covered past securities laws, or is not covered by the full panoply of the securities laws."

Ascension in crypto interest from U.S. government

The news is hardly surprising, given the broad rise in interactions between legal authorities and cryptocurrencies over 2022. Just this morning, crypto substitution Kraken reported a major rise in requests from law enforcement to investigate transactions on the exchange. Similarly, the Internal Revenue Service — the country's tax authority — has been increasingly assertive in tracking cryptocurrency for tax purposes.