Paul Atkins appointed as new US SEC chairman, pushing for crypto regulatory relaxation

Paul Atkins has officially taken office as the 34th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

April 22, 2568 – Paul Atkins, nominated by President Donald Trump, officially took office as the 34th chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 21, following a 52-44 vote in favor of him by the U.S. Senate on April 9.

Atkins, who served as SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008, expressed his gratitude for the trust of Donald Trump and the Senate and reaffirmed his commitment to making the U.S. capital markets the safest and most efficient place for investors around the world.

Atkins said, “Together, we will ensure that the United States is the best and safest place in the world for investment and doing business.”

His appointment is being closely watched because it marks a shift in the SEC's policy from the Biden administration, under Gary Gensler, which took a tough stance against cryptocurrencies, to an era expected to be more friendly towards digital assets and new financial innovations.

However, Atkins’ certification was previously delayed due to the massive financial disclosures he has to file due to his marriage to a wealthy family member. Some of the disclosures show that he has invested as much as $6 million in crypto assets, including in platforms Anchorage Digital and Securitize, which provide custody of digital assets and digital tokens on blockchains, respectively.

Atkins succeeds Mark Uyeda, who served as acting SEC commissioner and played a key role in establishing the Crypto Task Force in January to promote collaboration between the SEC and the cryptocurrency industry.

Since taking office, the SEC under Atkins has begun to settle or delay several lawsuits and investigations that arose during the Gensler era, including those involving Coinbase, Consensys, Gemini, and Uniswap. Additionally, Bloomberg reported that the SEC is considering more than 70 crypto ETF applications this year, covering assets ranging from XRP, Litecoin, and Solana to meme tokens like Doge, Penguins, and even “2x Melania.”

James Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, posted on platform X that "this year is going to be a crazy year" for the crypto ETF industry, noting that issuers are employing a "spaghetti cannon approach," trying to submit multiple proposals simultaneously to see which products the SEC under the new leadership will approve.

Reference: cointelegraph.com

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