SEC to Notify Businesses of Technical Violations Before Taking Action

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins vowed to give businesses notice of technical violations before “bashing down their door,” signaling a shift away from aggressive enforcement actions, according to a Financial Times interview.

Atkins’ focus on cryptocurrency underscores President Donald Trump’s pledge to be a “crypto president” and push for adoption of digital assets.

“I think a lot of people rightly criticized 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. 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, which includes broad proposals to revamp cryptocurrency oversight and scale back regulations Wall Street has called overly burdensome.

Atkins’ focus on cryptocurrency underscores President Donald Trump’s pledge to be a “crypto president” and push for adoption of digital assets.

Atkins told the FT he views most tokens as not securities and wants to create rules allowing investors to trade tokenized versions of stocks and bonds—synthetic securities with the same legal rights but tradable 24/7 via blockchain.

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.