On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins, President Trump’s nominee, was officially sworn in as the 34th Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, who previously served as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 during the George W. Bush administration, brings extensive prior SEC experience to his new post. In many ways that are already in evidence at the SEC in the early days of the Trump administration, the new leadership is likely to result in many significant changes in direction at the agency.
One area that is particularly likely to see significant changes is with respect to cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Indeed, in the first days of his new administration, President Trump signed an Executive Order signaling an intent to approach crypto-related issues with a lighter touch. The then-acting SEC Chair, Mark Uyeda, launched a crypto task force, to be headed by SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, charged with creating a clearer regulatory framework for crypto currency. Atkins himself has in recent years been a strong advocate for a clearer regulatory approach to cryptocurrency.
Under Atkins’s leadership, the agency is likely to develop crypto-related regulations that will provide clarity on issues such as the differences between securities and non-securities when it comes to digital assets; establish a practical disclosure framework; and provide guidance on issues such as registration of digital assets.
Overall, the SEC under Atkins is expected to reflect a different approach to the use of the SEC’s regulatory power generally. Atkins has in the past been a harsh critic of the SEC’s use of its regulatory powers to advance social issues, such as for example, with respect to climate change. In addition to the discontinuance of the use of regulation for social issues, the agency can be expected to incorporate practical cost-benefit analyses in SEC rulemaking, to promote regulation that is, in Atkins’s view, both cost-effective and economically justified.
Several other initiatives that commenced in the early days of the current administration, in advance of Atkins’s arrival, are likely to continue. For example, and with respect to the agency’s likelihood of stepping away from social issue oriented regulation, the agency is likely to continue its current path of withdrawing its support of certain Biden administration regulatory initiatives at the agency – as for example, when the Commission recently voted to withdraw its defense of the Biden-era climate change disclosure guidelines, in connection with the ongoing litigation challenge to the rules.
Other changes already underway at the agency, even before Atkins’s arrival, are likely to continue. In moves that have been the subject of sharp criticism, the agency is actively seeking to cut staff, eliminate regional leadership, and restructure or close regional offices. The agency is among executive branch agency’s subject to a hiring freeze.
A number of questions remain, as the agency reorients to its new leadership. For example, what will the agency’s approach be to the cybersecurity disclosure guidelines that the agency finalized under the prior administration? Some commentators have speculated that under the new administration, the agency will withdraw or non-enforce the cybersecurity disclosure guidelines, which just went into effect in December 2023.
Another area of uncertainty is with respect to artificial intelligence. Following the lead of Gary Gensler, the agency under the prior administration took an aggressive approach to AI-related misrepresentations, targeting in particular AI-washing. It seems unlikely even given the current administration’s different approach that the SEC would step back enforcement activity against fraudulent conduct. Indeed, in February 2025, when the agency created a new Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (here), the agency’s press release specifically stated that the new unit would focus on “fraud committed using emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.” But otherwise the agency’s approach to AI-related issues remains to be seen.
There are certain other areas that may not receive the priority under this administration that they received under the prior administration. For example, the prior administration gave a high priority to policing off-channel communications sent and received by employees of registered entities. Some commentators believe scrutiny of off-channel communications will be de-emphasized under the current administration.
Another area that seems likely to be de-emphasized, or at least given a different enforcement priority, is with respect to bribery and anti-corruption. Indeed, in February, President Trump signed an Executive Order pausing FCPA enforcement. The Executive Order was directed to the Attorney General and not necessarily to the SEC. However, the Executive Order stated as its reasoning for the pause the view that the FCPA’s enforcement reach has been “stretched beyond proper bounds and abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.” Given that perspective, it seems unlikely that the SEC under the current administration will be taking an active FCPA enforcement approach.
Commentators also speculate, picking up on comments by then-acting Chair Uyeda, that the agency under the new administration is likely to focus its enforcement efforts on instances of individual wrongdoing. Uyeda has signaled that focusing on individual wrongdoing will be a priority. But while individual accountability will be a priority, corporations may enjoy a less onerous regulatory and enforcement environment. Areas on which the agency seems likely to focus its enforcement efforts include insider trading; accounting and disclosure fraud; elder fraud; and retail investor fraud.
But while we can speculate about many areas of likely agency focus, many other issues remain to be seen. For example, what steps will the agency take to boost – or at least remove impediments to – capital formation? In what areas will the agency regulate? How active of an enforcement actor will the agency be? One particular additional area of concern to me is – how hamstrung will the agency be as a result of staff cuts and other restructuring actions? All of this and more will unfold in the weeks and months ahead.
In the meantime, congratulations to Paul Atkins on his swearing in as SEC Chair. We wish him and his colleagues good luck.