Yesterday Paul Atkins was sworn in as SEC Chair, after the US Senate approved his appointment on April 9, with the vote mainly along party lines. Mr Atkins was previously an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 during the George W Bush administration.
After leaving the SEC, the lawyer founded Patomak Global Partners, which provides strategy and advisory services, as well as compliance and litigation support. His digital asset clients included the Chamber of Digital Commerce, FTX, SolidX and Van Eck.
During his confirmation hearing, Mr Atkins said,
“Since 2017 I’ve led industry efforts to develop best practices for the digital asset industry. I’ve seen how ambiguous and non-existent regulation of digital assets create uncertainty in the market and inhibit innovation. A top priority of my chairmanship will be to work with my fellow Commissioners and Congress to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent and principled approach.”
Chair Atkins might make one of his first public appearances as SEC Chair at this Friday’s (25 April) SEC roundtable on crypto custody. This is the second roundtable in a series, alongside the new Crypto Task Force being led by Commissioner Hester Peirce.
Acting Chair Uyeda moved quickly to switch directions at the SEC, especially with respect to digital assets. Apart from setting up the Task Force and roundtables, the SEC has issued statements indicating that meme coins, crypto mining and stablecoins don’t involve securities in most cases. Additionally, it released interim disclosure guidance for crypto issuers while broader digital asset regulations are being developed.
Gensler slowed down crypto and digital securities
Former Chair Gary Gensler was hugely unpopular among the cryptocurrency community for his efforts to regulate the sector by enforcement.
However, Mr Gensler equally attracted the ire of the banking sector because the SEC accounting rule SAB 121 (rescinded by Mr Uyeda) prevented banks from getting involved in digital asset custody.
This didn’t just block banks for participating in the lucrative custody opportunities with the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024. It also meant that the United States fell behind the curve with digital securities. For example, most digital bonds have been issued in Europe and Asia. Banks typically provide custody for bonds, so without banks being able to provide digital custody affordably, few digital bonds were issued.
The new Chair aims to provide far greater clarity for the crypto community. It remains to be seen how far the pendulum swings in the other direction.
