Author: Turner Wright

Translation: Shenchao TechFlow

Guided by Shenchao: On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins was sworn in as the SEC Chairman, marking exactly one year today. During this year, the SEC has withdrawn several lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies, approved multiple cryptocurrency ETFs, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the CFTC for coordinated regulatory oversight of digital assets. However, Democratic lawmakers have also intensified their accusations of conflicts of interest against Atkins, and the SEC is still waiting for Congress to pass the market structure bill to clarify its jurisdiction over cryptocurrency assets.

On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins was sworn in as the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Today marks exactly one year.

In this year, the SEC has undergone a fundamental shift in its regulatory and enforcement stance on digital assets, contrasting sharply with the approach taken during former Chairman Gary Gensler's tenure.

During the 2024 election, Trump made several offers to the cryptocurrency industry: replacing Gensler, establishing a national Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, and opposing the issuance of a U.S. central bank digital currency. After winning the election in November 2024, Gensler resigned in January 2025, and SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda temporarily took over as Chairman until the Senate confirmed Atkins' nomination.

Caption: SEC Chairman Paul Atkins interviewed by CNBC Squawk Box on April 20, 2026

Source:CNBC

Before Atkins took office, the SEC was already shifting

Before Atkins officially took office, the SEC had already started signaling its direction. During Uyeda's interim period, the SEC established a cryptocurrency working group led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and starting in February 2025, gradually withdrew civil enforcement actions and investigations against cryptocurrency companies, with Coinbase being the first.

In the 12 months following Atkins' official appointment, the SEC launched a series of policies widely viewed as favorable to the industry:

• Ended multiple enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies
• Approved multiple exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to various cryptocurrency assets
• Signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for coordinated digital asset regulatory oversight
• Issued interpretive notices clarifying that most cryptocurrencies do not constitute securities under federal law

Atkins himself stated in an interview with CNBC on April 21: "A year has passed quickly, but I think we've made great progress. I promised that the SEC would see a new day, and we have achieved that. We've moved away from the past of regulating through enforcement and operating with a lack of transparency; the cryptocurrency sector is the best example."

Source:CFTC Chairman Michael Selig

Democratic lawmakers focus on conflicts of interest

The cryptocurrency industry largely welcomes Atkins' actions, but criticisms from Democratic lawmakers in Congress are also escalating. The focus is on the fact that some of the investigations and enforcement actions withdrawn by the SEC involved companies with ties to Trump and his family, presenting potential conflicts of interest.

Last week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Atkins of misleading Congress during testimony. In a letter dated April 15, Warren pointed out that the SEC's own fiscal year 2025 data shows that the number of enforcement actions by the agency has fallen to the lowest level in the past decade.

Although the direction of withdrawing lawsuits and regulatory easing is clear, the SEC is still waiting for Congress to pass the market structure bill to formally clarify its regulatory jurisdiction over cryptocurrency assets. Before the bill takes effect, the SEC's cryptocurrency regulatory framework remains in a transitional state of "administrative guidance + case-by-case handling."