SEC Chair Paul Atkins Marks Swift Departure From Gary Gensler-Rulemaking

Newly confirmed United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins laid out what his tenure at the federal regulator will look like on Friday while giving opening remarks at the agency’s third-ever crypto roundtable.

In his April 25 remarks, Atkins reaffirmed his vision to drive forward balanced rulemaking regarding the digital asset industry while taking a swipe at former SEC head Gary Gensler’s regulation-by-enforcement approach to the sector at the agency’s D.C. headquarters.

“Market participants engaging with this technology deserve clear regulatory rules of the road,” Atkins said. “Innovation has been stifled for the last several years due to market and regulatory uncertainty that unfortunately the SEC has fostered.”

Chairman Paul Atkins' remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable today: https://t.co/qdz19Hdgyl pic.twitter.com/eJgwXNkJko

“I look forward to engaging with market participants and working with colleagues in President Trump’s Administration and Congress to establish a rational, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for crypto assets,” he added.

Atkins’ comments came just days after he was sworn in to lead the SEC in a White House ceremony, where he vowed to apply a “rational, coherent, and principled” approach to the cryptocurrencies at large.

Atkins is widely seen as a pro-crypto choice to spearhead the U.S. regulatory environment, with reports indicating that the one-time SEC commissioner owns up to $6 million in digital assets himself.

Friday, however, marked the first roundtable by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force to feature Atkins as a panelist and the public alike discussed custody rules and regulations.

Launched in January, the agency’s Crypto Task Force seeks to generate a “comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto” by collaborating with the public “to set the SEC on a sensible regulatory path.”

During his remarks on Friday, Atkins shouted out SEC Commissioner and Crypto Task Force leader Hester Peirce for her “tireless advocacy” for common-sense crypto policy in the U.S.

“Commissioner Peirce is the right person to lead the effort to come up with a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets,” he said.

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