SEC Chair Paul Atkins Launches Project Crypto With CFTC To Coordinate Digital Asset Regulation

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto posture has shifted since Paul Atkins was sworn in as chair on April 21, 2025, with the SEC moving away from what Cointelegraph describes as the “old practice of regulation through enforcement and the opaqueness of the agency.”

“Table of Contents TheSecurities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has shifted its stance on digital assets under Chair Paul Atkins”

Blockonomi

Cointelegraph says Atkins’ first year has included “wrapping up enforcement actions,” approving “multiple exchange-traded funds tied to various crypto assets,” and issuing “an interpretative notice on not treating most cryptocurrencies as securities under federal law.”

Blockonomi

It also reports that the SEC “signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over coordination on digital asset regulation.”

Fortune frames Atkins’ approach as a “new era for the top regulator,” saying he delivered an address that will turn the U.S. into the “crypto capital of the world.”

Fortune adds that Atkins laid out priorities for SEC staff, including drafting “clear and simple rules of the road” for different crypto behavior, as well as allowing intermediaries like exchanges to become “super-apps” that offer a broad range of services.

Blockonomi similarly says Atkins has “moved the agency away from a regulation through enforcement model” and called for “clearer crypto regulations and structured guidance,” while also promoting innovation.

In a CNBC interview referenced by Cointelegraph, Atkins said, “I promised a new day at the SEC when I came aboard, and we have.”

The SEC’s new direction is also being formalized through inter-agency coordination, with FinanceFeeds describing how Atkins launched “Project Crypto” as a joint initiative with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

FinanceFeeds says Atkins spoke at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington on Jan. 29, 2026, calling it “one of the most ambitious initiatives between our two agencies in a generation.”

Cointelegraph

In that same address, Atkins framed the effort as a response to Congress and to the way digital asset markets blur lines between securities and commodities.

FinanceFeeds quotes Atkins saying, “As SEC Chairman, I am grateful to be a guest at the CFTC’s headquarters, standing side by side with Chairman Selig as we launch one of the most ambitious initiatives between our two agencies in a generation.”

It also reports that Atkins argued legislation alone would not deliver certainty, saying, “But legislation alone cannot deliver the certainty that investors and market participants deserve.”

FinanceFeeds further depicts Atkins attacking a “legacy regulatory model” that forces firms to operate across overlapping frameworks, adding that “fragmented regulation in an integrated market is not a safeguard for investors so much as a source of confusion among them.”

Fortune, meanwhile, describes Atkins’ staff priorities as including modernizing SEC custody requirements and allowing experimentation with on-chain technology like “tokenizing” equities and creating blockchain versions of assets such as stocks and money market funds.

Multiple outlets connect Atkins’ pivot to concrete changes in enforcement posture and to new forms of guidance, while also highlighting ongoing regulatory attention in adjacent areas like prediction markets.

Cointelegraph says that even before the Senate voted to confirm Atkins, SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda oversaw the creation of an SEC crypto task force headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce, and that the agency began “to drop civil enforcement actions and investigations into crypto companies, starting with Coinbase in February.”

Cointelegraph also says the SEC approved “multiple exchange-traded funds tied to various crypto assets” and issued an interpretative notice on not treating most cryptocurrencies as securities under federal law.

Blockonomi adds that Atkins has introduced “a taxonomy to classify different crypto products” and outlined plans for an “innovation exemption,” while saying the SEC supports innovation rather than “fending off new, innovative types of technologies.”

During a CNBC interview referenced by Blockonomi, Atkins told Andrew Ross Sorkin, “So rather than fending off new, innovative types of technologies, we’re embracing them.”

Blockonomi then shifts to prediction markets, saying regulators have increased scrutiny of fast-growing platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, and it notes that Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig asserted his agency’s jurisdiction over these markets.

Blockonomi also quotes Atkins responding to Sorkin’s question about trades placed before President Donald Trump’s public comments, saying, “Things like that are disturbing,” and adding, “I can’t talk to any particular investigation, but we are examining that area.”

While the crypto industry and some reporting frame Atkins’ approach as pro-innovation, Cointelegraph also describes congressional criticism focused on potential conflicts of interest and on the SEC’s enforcement reductions.

Cointelegraph says Congressional Democrats have criticized the SEC and chair for potential conflicts of interest following dropped investigations and enforcement actions against companies tied to Trump and his family.

Fortune

It reports that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren accused the SEC chair of misleading Congress in testimony before a House committee in February, and it says Warren made the accusation in an April 15 letter.

Cointelegraph adds that Warren said the SEC’s own data from the 2025 fiscal year showed the agency had fewer enforcement actions than at any point in the previous 10 years.

In Fortune’s account, the SEC’s shift is also presented against the backdrop of the Gensler era, when the SEC “cracked down on top crypto companies such as Coinbase and Gemini,” arguing they were operating outside long-established securities laws and presenting threats to consumers.

Fortune includes a warning from Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, who said, “As happened when [Atkins] was an SEC Commissioner from 2002-2008, Wall Street’s megafirms and politically favored companies will be protected while investors will be left to protect themselves.”

Cointelegraph similarly quotes Atkins’ own framing of the SEC’s change, saying, “We’ve pivoted from the old practice of regulation through enforcement and the opaqueness of the agency, as, for example, with crypto.”

The reporting suggests that Atkins’ SEC agenda is tied to both ongoing rulemaking and to the pace of congressional market-structure legislation, while also leaving open questions about how enforcement and oversight will operate in practice.

“Table of Contents TheSecurities and Exchange Commission(SEC) has shifted its stance on digital assets under Chair Paul Atkins”

Blockonomi

FinanceFeeds says Atkins told audiences that lawmakers are “closer to sending bipartisan market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk,” but argued that legislation alone is not enough to create operational certainty for the industry.

Blockonomi

It quotes Atkins saying, “A federal framework for markets that have surged ahead with speed and ingenuity is long overdue,” and it pairs that with the argument that “legislation alone cannot deliver the certainty that investors and market participants deserve.”

Fortune similarly says the challenge for Atkins will be establishing its own rules as Congress continues to debate broad legislation that would regulate the market structure of digital assets, and it notes that the House passed its own version while “the Senate has yet to signal its own approach.”

Cointelegraph adds that Atkins’ first year included issuing an interpretative notice and approving exchange-traded funds tied to various crypto assets, while also coordinating with the CFTC through a memorandum of understanding.

Blockonomi adds that Atkins’ approach includes an “innovation exemption” and a taxonomy to classify different crypto products, which it frames as part of a shift toward clearer standards.

At the same time, Blockonomi’s prediction-market section shows that regulators are still focused on oversight efforts, stating that “the SEC, the Department of Justice, and the CFTC remain focused on oversight efforts.”