Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

Within half a year, several key executives were replaced, more than 500 people resigned, and departments were restructured... The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission underwent drastic adjustments in the first half of 2025.

This internal storm is quietly reshaping the regulatory landscape of the crypto market. This article will review the key changes made by the SEC over the past six months and analyze whether the “new” SEC has truly opened a friendly door to cryptocurrencies.

The third change of chairman has “adjusted” the rhythm of crypto regulation

In the first half of 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) experienced the replacement of three chairmen: Gary Gensler during the Biden administration, Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda, and current Chairman Paul Atkins. Unlike Gensler, who has a tough stance and frequently initiates law enforcement actions, Uyeda and Atkins are both considered to be more friendly to the crypto industry.

Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda has always been open to cryptocurrencies, and he once cast a key vote in favor of the Bitcoin spot ETF. In just a few months as an agent, Uyeda quickly implemented the Trump administration's pro-cryptocurrency commitments: establishing a "Cryptocurrency Task Force" led by Hester Peirce; revoking the much-criticized SAB 121 accounting policy; and establishing a "Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU)" to replace the old "Crypto Assets and Cyber Department."

The U.S. SEC has undergone a major reshuffle. Is the new team really more crypto-friendly?

In April 2025, Paul Atkins officially took over as chairman of the SEC, further consolidating this shift in attitude. Atkins is no stranger to the crypto community: as early as 2017, he served as co-chairman of the Digital Chamber of Commerce Token Alliance, actively promoting the formulation of industry standards for token issuance and trading. According to Fortune, Atkins holds crypto-related assets worth about $6 million, including shares or other investments in crypto companies such as Anchorage and Securitize.

After taking office, Atkins has publicly expressed his crypto-friendly stance many times. He pointed out that "the crypto market has been trapped in the SEC's regulatory gray area for many years" and promised to "return to the fundamental mission of promoting rather than suppressing innovation" during his tenure.

The U.S. SEC has undergone a major reshuffle. Is the new team really more crypto-friendly?

Major changes in core departments

In addition to the change of chairman, the core departments of the SEC also ushered in a number of key personnel adjustments. The following are the changes in important positions of the SEC since the beginning of the year:

The U.S. SEC has undergone a major reshuffle. Is the new team really more crypto-friendly?

Of the 10 executive changes, at least two new executives are believed to have experience in the crypto industry: Brian T. Daly, director of investment management, and Jamie Selway, director of trading and markets.

Brian T. Daly was previously a partner at the international law firm Akin Gump. In his official resume, digital assets, cryptocurrencies and blockchain are listed as his areas of expertise. Jamie Selway was a partner at Sophron Advisors and served as global head of institutional markets for the crypto company Blockchain from 2018 to 2019.

More importantly, the two departments they are in charge of are extremely important in the SEC structure. The Investment Management Department is responsible for regulating investment products and services including mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and registered investment advisors. The Trading and Markets Department controls the operating rules of market infrastructure such as exchanges, market makers, brokers, and clearing houses. In other words, crypto ETFs and the crypto trading environment are affected by these two departments.

At the same time, the SEC's enforcement department, a key "power center", has also undergone a blood transfusion. Gurbir Grewal, the former director of the enforcement department who has long been tough on cryptocurrencies, left office in October 2024. During his tenure, he led a number of heavyweight crypto lawsuits, including Ripple and Coinbase. According to Cornerstone Research data, in 2024, the SEC initiated 33 crypto-related enforcement actions involving 90 defendants or respondents.

After Grewal left, Sanjay Wadhwa took over as acting director, and the enforcement efforts slowed down significantly. Between February and March of this year, the SEC withdrew lawsuits against several well-known crypto companies, including Coinbase, Consensys, Robinhood, Gemini, Uniswap and Kraken.

In addition, the SEC launched an employee buyout plan at the end of February, offering $50,000 in compensation to employees who voluntarily resigned. In the end, more than 500 people chose to retire early or resign, accounting for about 10% of the total number of employees in the institution. This wave of "internal slimming" also created space for subsequent structural reorganization and policy shifts.

Has the SEC’s “crypto rhythm” changed?

In terms of regulatory trends, the SEC is expressing its views through intensive meetings and policies. In the first half of this year, the SEC has held six crypto-related roundtable meetings, covering core topics such as regulatory framework, custody mechanism, asset tokenization and DeFi.

At the regulatory level, it is also making progress. On May 30, the SEC issued a policy statement on PoS network staking activities, clarifying for the first time that three types of staking activities do not constitute securities issuance: including user self-staking, non-custodial third-party staking, and compliant custodial staking. This provides a clearer compliance path for current crypto staking services.

At the same time, ETF approvals began to speed up. On June 11, the SEC sent notices to several institutions that planned to issue Solana spot ETFs, requiring them to resubmit a revised S-1 document within 7 days and promised to complete the review feedback within 30 days after submission.

The U.S. SEC has undergone a major reshuffle. Is the new team really more crypto-friendly?

With personnel changes, loosening of rules and softening of attitudes, this organization, which once made countless crypto projects "walk on thin ice", is now re-dialoguing with the industry.

Supervision will not disappear, but future supervision may no longer be a high-pressure network, but a bridge to co-construction.

The NYSE and Securitize are partnering to develop a tokenized securities platform.

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