The new chair of the U.S. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Paul Atkins has revealed fresh plans for crypto innovators.
Paul Atkins looks like he’s on a whole different path, moving away from the SEC’s previous aggressive policies.
In fact, his stance seems more in line and in favour of cryptocurrency businesses.
According to an interview Atkins has had with the Financial Times, he has promised preliminary notices to crypto firms before any enforcement action is taken.
He has even outlined a more transparent and cooperative regulatory approach to crypto deviating from Gensler’s “enforcement-heavy era”.
The SEC initiated high-profile lawsuits against major crypto firms, including Ripple Labs (2020) and Terraform Labs (2022) duing former Chair’s tenure.
Their lawsuits also extended to exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken (2023). These actions resulted in billions of dollars in legal costs for the industry.
“You can’t just suddenly come and bash down their door,” Atkins said.
He emphasized that businesses will now receive advance notice of technical violations, allowing them up to six months to address issues before enforcement actions are pursued.
A New Perspective of Crypto Innovators
Atkins also distanced himself from Gensler’s view that most cryptocurrencies should be classified as securities.
Atkins believes that most tokens do not fall under securities laws.
He expressed support for trading tokenized versions of stocks and bonds, ensuring they carry the same legal rights as their underlying assets.
Since Atkins’ confirmation as SEC Chair, the SEC has established a Crypto Task Force to consult with industry stakeholders on regulation.
The SEC has also dropped several investigations and enforcement actions initiated under Gensler’s leadership.
