The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins vowed to give businesses notice of technical violations before “bashing down their door”, marking a shift away from aggressive enforcement actions, according to a Financial Times interview published on Monday.
“I think a lot of people rightly criticised the SEC,” said Atkins. “Especially in more recent years, it was not grounded in precedent or predictability. It would shoot first and then ask questions later,” Atkins told the newspaper.
“What I am trying to address is a market perception that there was a lack of due process, a lack of notice, a lack of rule of law.”
Earlier this month, the SEC unveiled its rule-making agenda for the upcoming months, which could see broad proposals to revamp cryptocurrency regulations and reduce rules that Wall Street has decried as being overly burdensome.
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Most tokens not to be treated as securities
The focus on cryptocurrency by Atkins highlights President Donald Trump’s pledge to be a “crypto president” and promote the adoption of digital assets.
Atkins told the FT that most tokens are not securities and wants to develop rules that would allow investors to trade tokenised versions of shares and bonds – synthetic versions of securities that have the same legal rights but can trade 24/7 using blockchain technology.
This marks a stark departure from the policies of former President Joe Biden, who in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on the crypto industry.