On May 13, the newly appointed SEC Chairman Paul Atkins announced on Monday that the agency would undergo significant changes in its cryptocurrency regulation approach and outlined details involving issuance and custody. Atkins, nominated by President Trump, elaborated on these plans at the SEC's fourth crypto task force roundtable, demonstrating a markedly different approach to digital asset regulation compared to the previous administration.
"The SEC is entering a new day," Atkins said. "Policy-making will no longer rely on ad hoc enforcement actions. Instead, the Commission will utilize its existing rule-making, interpretation, and exemption authorities to set standards that are fit for purpose for market participants."
Atkins stated on Monday that he plans to develop guidelines for assets considered securities or "constrained by investment contracts". He criticized Gensler's previous approach of requiring companies to visit the SEC, saying the agency had adopted an "ostrich policy—perhaps hoping cryptocurrencies would disappear". "It claims to be willing to talk to potential registrants, 'just come and visit', but this is at best empty talk, and more often hypocritical, because the SEC has not made the necessary adjustments to registration forms for this new technology," he said.
Atkins also suggested that custody rules might need updating to allow funds and advisors to participate in self-custody under specific conditions, and revealed that the agency might take a new approach to its "special purpose broker-dealer framework". Atkins stated that the SEC might also consider providing exemption relief for participants seeking to bring new products to market. "I want to explore whether there are conditional exemption reliefs applicable to registered and unregistered persons seeking to launch new products and services that may be incompatible with the current Commission rules and regulations," he said.
