They've been reprimanded by a federal judge for blatant extrajudicial power grabs like this one. None of their huge cases claiming various cryptocurrencies are securities have succeeded, except in the super cut-and-dry cases like ICOs and centralized schemes that clearly pass the Howey test.
> in the specific context of staking and promising returns, not crypto in general
Every ruling in the lower courts on these issues will be narrow. The SEC has been on a winning streak recently. The only major kerfuffle was the judge not ruling that XRP is a security, though Torres still ruled in the SEC's favour broadly, and the ruling has been widely criticised (not by industry people, but senior lawyers) for being likely to be overturned on appeal.
