Over at the SEC, Gensler has stepped down and is being replaced in the interim by the crypto-friendly Mark Uyeda, who has served as a Commissioner at the SEC since 2022. Uyeda will likely be replaced by Trump’s nominee Paul Atkins. Uyeda quickly announced that he would be forming a “crypto task force dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets”, which will be headed by fellow crypto-friendly Commissioner Hester Peirce. In a press release, the agency signaled its new direction by criticizing its own past actions: “To date, the SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way. Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive. The result has been confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud.”19 The SEC was also quick to rescind SAB 121, the controversial rule that Congress nearly overturned last year before Biden issued a veto based on concerns about “jeopardiz[ing] the well-being of consumers and investors” [I58, 59, 74]. “Bye, bye SAB 121! It’s not been fun,” wrote Peirce on Twitter.20 This rescission will make it easier for banks to get into the crypto custody business.
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