S.E.C. Moves to Write Crypto-Friendly Rules Under Trump

Regulatory shift

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s embrace of crypto under President Trump has entered a new phase, moving beyond dropped enforcement cases and into the writing of crypto-friendly policy.

At a crypto industry conference in Washington this month, S.E.C. Chairman Paul Atkins received an enthusiastic welcome from attendees. Introduced with praise for his work under Trump, Atkins told the audience that the agency was issuing new business-friendly guidance for crypto companies at that very moment.

Soon after, conference attendees received a link to a 68-page document from the S.E.C. The guidance laid out policies that would shield cryptocurrencies from certain regulatory rules, giving the industry much of what it has sought for years.

New guidance for the industry

The new document marks a significant step in the agency’s changing posture toward an industry that has long been associated with fraud and market turmoil. Last year, the S.E.C. dropped a series of enforcement lawsuits involving crypto firms. Now it is issuing guidance that could make it easier for more crypto products to reach the market.

The new approach also gives the industry more flexibility as it pushes Congress to pass legislation. Rather than focusing primarily on policing the sector through lawsuits, the regulator is now providing a framework that appears designed to accommodate crypto businesses.

Broader regulatory embrace

The shift is not limited to the S.E.C. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has also embraced digital currencies and has enthusiastically promoted prediction markets, the crypto-powered betting sites where traders wager on events ranging from federal elections to the Oscars.

Together, those moves suggest that the federal government’s posture toward crypto has become markedly more welcoming, with regulators increasingly acting less as adversaries and more as facilitators of the industry’s growth.