SEC Chair Highlights Clear Crypto Rules as Priority in SEC’s Spring 2025 Agenda

U.S. SEC Chair Paul Atkins signaled a regulatory reset at the commission, emphasizing that its Spring 2025 agenda prioritizes clear rules and deregulatory reforms. Atkins highlighted this while commenting on the release of the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.  New Priorities  In the statement, the SEC Chair emphasized that this agenda marks a significant shift in the commission’s focus, which now prioritizes investor protection, market efficiency, innovation, and capital formation.  This suggests that the SEC, under Atkins’ leadership, aims to balance regulation with growth, rather than focusing solely on enforcement, as the previous administration did.  Providing Clear Crypto Rules He stressed that one of the central themes of the Spring 2025 agenda is to provide regulatory clarity for cryptocurrencies. According to him, providing clear rules of the road around crypto-related trading, issuance, and custody has been a key priority under his administration.  The goal is to provide market participants with much-needed clarity to enable legitimate projects to flourish, while also discouraging bad actors from violating the law.  Deregulatory Reforms and Reevaluating CAT Moreover, the agenda also includes several deregulatory measures to mitigate compliance burden and facilitate capital formation for businesses. These include expanding investor access to private markets, simplifying capital-raising pathways, and updating disclosure requirements.  Beyond crypto, the SEC is considering whether to invite public comment to help reevaluate the controversial Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).  Atkins emphasized that the CAT has received widespread criticism in recent times. Critics, including members of Congress, worry about CAT’s high costs and the risks associated with storing sensitive market data. Notably, he acknowledged these concerns and may seek public input to reevaluate the CAT.  Overall, the new agenda reflects the SEC's withdrawal of several regulatory items proposed under the previous administration, which Atkins believes did not meet the standard of smart and effective regulation.  Since he was sworn into office as the 34th SEC Chair, Atkins has unveiled several positive initiatives for the crypto industry. Among them is the Project Crypto initiative, which aims to modernize the agency’s rulebook. In addition to updating the SEC’s rules, this initiative aims to transition the U.S. financial markets from off-chain to on-chain.  He also ensured that the commission ended all enforcement actions against crypto businesses, including withdrawing the SEC’s appeal against Ripple.