The new leadership of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) new leadership has announced the creation of a task force to develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets, the first major push by the Trump administration to reshape policy around cryptocurrencies.
“The Task Force’s focus will be to help the Commission draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously,” the SEC said in a statement.
The effort will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, known for her dissents against enforcement actions targeting the crypto industry by the SEC under the leadership of former Chair Gary Gensler, widely seen as a crypto skeptic. Gensler, who resigned on Jan. 20, faced criticism for regulating the industry by enforcement rather than laying out clear rules for companies to follow.
“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,” the SEC’s announcement states. “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.”
Vowing to “do better,” the SEC said the new task force will look to chart a “clear and comprehensive” regulatory path for crypto assets that respects legal boundaries, promotes innovation, and combats fraud.
The task force will collaborate with other federal bodies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as with state and international agencies, while also assisting Congress in crafting crypto regulation.
Success of the undertaking will depend on input from a broad range of stakeholders, including investors, industry participants, academics, and others, Peirce said, with the SEC inviting public input on the effort.
“We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation,” Peirce said in a statement.
There was positive reaction to the initiative by some in the crypto industry.
“We are encouraged by this meaningful first step towards real policy solutions and ending the regulation by enforcement era of the past,” said Jonathan Jachym, global head of policy at crypto platform Kraken. “We look forward to accelerating our policy engagement ... to establish regulatory clarity.”
A senior executive at Coinbase also welcomed the move.
“We have been saying for years to help us by crafting rules for crypto. Over the last four years, the answer was resoundingly ‘no,’” said Paul Grewal, the company’s chief legal officer. “It is a new day.”
Trump embraced crypto during his presidential campaign after previously expressing skepticism about it.
