This article is written by Jason Jiang, a senior researcher at OKG Research
On April 22, 2025, Beijing time, Paul Atkins was officially sworn in as the 34th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 52 to 44, this "free market" regulator, unlike his predecessor Gary Gensler's enforcement-focused approach during his tenure, immediately stated that building a clear and open digital asset regulatory framework will be the "top priority".
During the Gensler era, the U.S. SEC launched large-scale enforcement actions against the crypto industry, treating almost all tokens as securities, leaving entrepreneurs, investment institutions, and trading platforms in a long-term state of uncertainty and risk. Against this background of high-pressure regulation and policy ambiguity, Atkins' appointment is viewed by the industry as a "reset moment" for U.S. crypto regulation.
From Traditional Regulator to "Crypto Veteran"
Paul Atkins is a typical "Washington-Wall Street shuttle". He graduated from Wofford College and Vanderbilt University Law School, and early in his career worked at the top Wall Street law firm Davis Polk, handling securities issuance and mergers, and accumulated international experience working in Paris. In the early 1990s, he entered the SEC, serving as a senior advisor to two previous chairmen, primarily responsible for corporate governance and market structure reforms.
In 2002, Atkins was appointed as an SEC Commissioner by President George W. Bush. Before leaving office in 2008, he was known for promoting transparent regulation and opposing bureaucratic expansion, becoming one of the representatives of the U.S. free market regulatory philosophy. In 2009, he founded Patomak Global Partners, a compliance consulting firm providing compliance strategy services for financial institutions and crypto enterprises.
In the process of founding Patomak, Atkins established deep connections with the crypto industry. He served as co-chair of the "Token Alliance" under the U.S. Digital Chamber, leading the development of best practices for token issuance and crypto platforms. He has also provided strategic consulting for well-known crypto companies like Securitize and Anchorage Digital, and invested in the crypto asset fund Off The Chain Capital. Financial disclosures show that his family's crypto-related assets amount to millions of dollars.
These experiences have made Atkins one of the few traditional regulators with both theoretical understanding and practical experience in the crypto industry. However, Atkins' crypto background has also sparked controversy. Before FTX's collapse, Patomak had provided compliance advisory services for it, which became a point of contention during his nomination. Nevertheless, the Senate majority party ultimately still gave support, reflecting not only recognition of his professional capabilities but also the loosening attitude towards crypto regulation in the U.S. political atmosphere.
Regulation Should Not Be the Enemy of Innovation
Unlike the regulatory path of "governing the industry through litigation" during the Gensler period, Atkins clearly stated in both the hearing and on his first day in office that the SEC's mission should shift from "defining rules through enforcement" to "guiding compliance through rules".
He believes that regulation cannot come at the cost of suppressing innovation, nor can it allow the market to wander in legal gray areas for an extended period. "Regulation should not be the enemy of innovation," but should provide a "rational, clear, and executable compliance path" - this is the first key signal he released to the entire crypto industry.
Atkins criticized his predecessor's approach of "categorically treating cryptocurrencies as securities", which led the market into a vicious cycle of "being sued first, then finding rules". In contrast, he tends to build a more flexible and adaptive regulatory classification system based on token functionality, decentralization degree, and points out that "the U.S. should not lose its competitive advantage in the Web3 era due to regulatory uncertainty". This highly aligns with the calls from the crypto community, developers, and even some institutional investors over the years.
Since the Senate vote on April 9th confirming Atkins would become chairman, a series of SEC actions have already made the crypto industry clearly feel the change in regulatory winds, with some industry insiders jokingly calling the regulatory body a "crypto foster parent":
1. Initiating Dialogue with the Crypto Industry. To quickly fill regulatory gaps and reach industry consensus, the SEC's Cryptocurrency Working Group plans to hold four public roundtable meetings from April to June this year, covering key issues such as exchange regulation, custody norms, DeFi compliance, and asset tokenization, inviting industry representatives, consumer organizations, and policy researchers to discuss the regulatory path. This is the first time in SEC history to establish a systematic policy consultation mechanism for crypto issues, showing that the SEC under Atkins' leadership hopes to adjust policy priorities in a timely manner by "replacing confrontation with cooperation" through listening to industry voices.
The first roundtable on April 11th focused on "Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading Volume", exploring how to adjust rules within the existing securities law framework to accommodate crypto exchanges.
2. Widespread Settlement or Withdrawal of Litigation. After Atkins took office, the SEC's attitude towards existing crypto litigation cases has noticeably softened. On April 11th, the SEC reached a long-term settlement agreement with Ripple, reducing the fine to $50 million, and XRP was not explicitly defined as a security. Simultaneously, litigation for multiple projects like Nova Labs was directly withdrawn, with the industry calling it a "regulatory amnesty wave". This "corrective" attitude sends a clear signal: the SEC will retroactively correct over-litigation during the previous tenure, hoping to resolve legacy disputes through negotiation and provide policy breathing space for the industry.
3. Preliminary Formation of Crypto Disclosure Standards. Also on April 11th, the SEC's Corporate Finance Division issued non-binding disclosure guidelines for crypto token issuance, covering project architecture, token functionality, governance design, and development progress. This is the first time the SEC has attempted to provide an "expected disclosure checklist" for crypto projects, marking a shift in regulatory logic from "post-facto enforcement" to "pre-emptive guidance". "Crypto Mom" Hester Peirce commented that this reflects the SEC under the new chairman's willingness to "get on the field and guide" rather than letting the industry grope forward on the edge of danger.
These transformative measures indicate that the SEC under Atkins is moving from past "high-pressure control" towards "transparent co-governance". Rather than regulatory relaxation, this is more a rational return to regulation, back to the original point of serving the market, protecting investors, and encouraging innovation.
3 Key Issues Will Become Priority for Atkins' Crypto New Policy
After releasing initial friendly signals, the industry is generally concerned about the key policy directions the SEC will lead under Atkins. Currently, the market is focused on three main directions:
1. Accelerating Stablecoin Legislation. Trump has repeatedly publicly supported introducing regulated U.S. dollar stablecoins to increase U.S. Treasury demand and consolidate the dollar's dominance in the digital era. Atkins has expressed support for Senator Bill Hagerty's "GENIUS Act", establishing a basic framework for stablecoins including licensing, reserve funds, and information disclosure, and suggesting state-level exemption channels for small and medium-sized projects. The SEC may gradually withdraw direct intervention in "non-security stablecoins" (like USDC) during his tenure, shifting regulatory focus to banking regulators or legislative bodies. This will remove key obstacles for large-scale legal and compliant stablecoin use and help promote the U.S. digital dollar ecosystem.
2. Compliance Exchange Registration Path Likely to Open. In the past two years, exchanges like Coinbase have faced SEC litigation for "operating unregistered securities trading platforms". Atkins advocates establishing a specific compliance framework for such platforms, such as allowing registration as "Alternative Trading Systems" (ATS) or "Crypto-Specific Brokers".
According to The Block's citing of SEC internal sources, multiple withdrawal actions are currently being prepared, and the Coinbase case may also be "resolved without war", opening space for subsequent compliance paths. More importantly, the SEC may no longer attempt to unify regulation but coordinate with agencies like CFTC and FinCEN to develop a multi-agency regulatory framework with "clearly defined responsibilities", providing a more predictable environment for exchanges and their users.
3. Token Recognition Standards Will Be Reshaped. One of the most challenging issues in the current crypto market is determining which tokens are considered securities, commodities, or unregulated assets. In the past, the SEC widely applied the Howey Test to identify tokens as securities, while Atkins is more inclined to classify and evaluate tokens based on their functionality (utility vs. investment) and degree of decentralization. He supports the "safe harbor proposal" proposed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, which provides startups with a 3-year grace period to build a distributed network without fear of SEC legal action. This means a dual-track system of "startup exemption + long-term compliance" may take shape, revitalizing the token issuance and financing ecosystem. Meanwhile, Atkins supports the "issue and disclose" principle, meaning that as long as token projects provide comprehensive information disclosure and have a transparent governance structure upon issuance, they can operate within a compliance framework. This could significantly alleviate compliance pressure for project parties and attract a new wave of token financing projects back to the US market.
Additionally, the SEC's newly established internal research group is re-evaluating the attributes of mainstream public chain assets. Tokens like XRP and SOL, which have a broad application foundation, if excluded from securities classification, will open up more varieties for crypto ETFs. In fact, on Atkins' first day of office (April 10), the SEC quickly approved options trading for Ethereum spot ETFs, providing investors with more participation channels and signaling support for the financialization of crypto assets.
Conclusion
Paul Atkins' appointment represents the beginning of a new regulatory cycle for the crypto industry in the United States. If key links such as stablecoin compliance channels, crypto exchange registration systems, and token legal recognition can be breakthrough during his tenure, it will reshape the US position in the global crypto governance system. More importantly, the change in regulatory logic will release a stronger institutional signal: it's not that regulation is reduced, but that it becomes clearer, more consultative, and more constructive.
For the crypto industry, this is a hard-won breathing space and a restart that requires more rationality and self-discipline. However, Atkins is not a "laissez-faire" advocate. In multiple statements, he has reiterated that the SEC will continue to severely crack down on illegal activities such as fraud, insider trading, and market manipulation; the real transformation is about letting the industry know "where the path of compliance lies".
