New SEC Chief Atkins Says Agency Doesn't Have to Wait to Impose Crypto Policy

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By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Cheyenne Ligon Apr 25, 2025, 5:55 p.m. New Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins appears at his first public event — a crypto roundtable. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) What to know : Paul Atkins made a crypto event his first public appearance as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, introducing the latest of five planned roundtables to be held about the industry. Atkins said the agency will be rethinking crypto special-purpose broker dealers and custody policy, and he said the SEC can move forward with existing authorities while it awaits congressional action. Paul Atkins’ first public event as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was a crypto roundtable on Friday, where the new agency chief devoted his inaugural speech to assuring the industry that he'll continue to remake securities policy to favor digital assets innovation. The agency and industry have been awaiting congressional action to establish crypto market-structure oversight that will likely set guardrails, and Atkins told an audience at the SEC's Washington headquarters that the regulator will work toward delivering "a rational, fit-for-purpose framework" for crypto. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . However, in answer to a question from CoinDesk after his speech, Atkins indicated that the agency may be able to act to some degree during this wait for new laws. "It's always good to have Congress' input, and if there's a statute to back up what we're doing, I think that's all the better," Atkins said. "But we have ample room to maneuver under existing rules and laws." Atkins further suggested that he thinks the concept of special-purpose crypto broker dealers, a little-used registration most prominently represented by Prometheum, has been very successful and may need to be reconsidered, and he said the agency will look at whether custody rules need to be changed to "accommodate crypto assets and blockchain technology." Atkins previously appeared at a swearing-in ceremony earlier this week in the White House, where Trump said "he's the perfect man to lead this agency" at a time when the digital assets sector needs regulatory clarity, and Atkins said a "top priority of my chairmanship will be to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets." But Friday's event at the SEC's headquarters represented his first full-fledged engagement with the public. Read More: Crypto Ally Paul Atkins Sworn In to Replace Gary Gensler Atop U.S. SEC The crypto sector has high hopes for Atkins, though his stand-in for the past few months — Commissioner Mark Uyeda — already took a number of decisive actions to reverse the regulator's earlier crypto reluctance under former Chair Gary Gensler. As interim chairman, Uyeda reversed or sidelined a number of crypto policy efforts pursued under Gensler and has abandoned most of the regulator's prominent enforcement actions targeting the industry. Until now, industry expectations for Atkins' leadership were based on conjecture rooted in his experience advising and investing in digital assets firms, especially since his Senate confirmation hearing failed to explore his crypto views . Atkins had served as an adviser to crypto entities such as the Digital Chamber and as a board member of tokenization firm Securitize, and his ties to Off the Chain Capital had previously linked him to its investment stakes in big crypto companies like Digital Currency Group (DCG) and Kraken. Friday's roundtable was the third in a series the agency has held on crypto matters, this time focused on custody in the industry. Crypto custody has been a particularly dicey topic at the agency, which under Gensler's reign had sought to approve a policy demanding investment advisers put their clients' digital assets only with certain qualified custodians. Gensler had argued that the rule was meant to exclude most of the existing crypto platforms as suitable custodians, but the effort was put on ice. Read More: U.S. SEC's Acting Chair Walking Back Agency Proposal on Crypto Trading Platforms Atkins was asked by reporters on the event's sidelines about President Trump's own crypto interests and whether Trump's memecoin, $TRUMP, will rob credibility from the White House on industry policy. "I have no comment on any of that," Atkins said. Securities and Exchange Commission Paul Atkins Regulation U.S. Congress crypto legislation Prometheum Jesse Hamilton Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's deputy managing editor on the Global Policy and Regulation team, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022, he worked for more than a decade covering Wall Street regulation at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, writing about the early whisperings among federal agencies trying to decide what to do about crypto. He’s won several national honors in his reporting career, including from his time as a war correspondent in Iraq and as a police reporter for newspapers. Jesse is a graduate of Western Washington University, where he studied journalism and history. He has no crypto holdings. X icon About About Us Masthead Careers CoinDesk News Crypto API Documentation Contact Contact Us Accessibility Advertise Sitemap System Status DISCLOSURE & POLICES CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one. Ethics Privacy Terms of Use Cookie Settings Do Not Sell My Info © 2025 CoinDesk, Inc. X icon