A review of personnel changes at the U.S. SEC in the past six months: Is the "new" SEC really more crypto-friendly?

Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher

Editor: TB, ChainCatcher

In the first half of 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) experienced significant changes, including multiple key executive replacements, over 500 employee departures, and departmental restructuring.

This internal storm is quietly reshaping the regulatory landscape of the cryptocurrency market. This article will review the key changes at the SEC over the past six months and analyze whether the "new" SEC has truly opened a friendly door to cryptocurrencies.

Three Chairmen, "Tuning" the Rhythm of Crypto Regulation

In the first half of 2025, the SEC underwent the replacement of three chairmen: Gary Gensler from the Biden administration, acting chairman Mark T. Uyeda, and the current chairman Paul Atkins. Unlike Gensler, who took a hardline stance and frequently initiated enforcement actions, both Uyeda and Atkins are considered to have a more friendly attitude towards the crypto industry.

Acting chairman Mark T. Uyeda has consistently maintained an open attitude towards crypto; he cast a crucial vote in favor of a Bitcoin spot ETF. During his short tenure as acting chairman, Uyeda quickly implemented the Trump administration's pro-crypto commitments: establishing a "Cryptocurrency Special Working Group" led by Hester Peirce; rescinding the controversial SAB 121 accounting policy; and setting up the "Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU)" to replace the old "Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit."

In April 2025, Paul Atkins officially took over as SEC chairman, further solidifying this shift in attitude. Atkins is no stranger to the crypto circle: as early as 2017, he served as co-chair of the Digital Chamber's Token Alliance, actively promoting the establishment of industry standards for token issuance and trading. According to Fortune, Atkins holds approximately $6 million worth of crypto-related assets, including shares or other investments in crypto companies like Anchorage and Securitize.

Since taking office, Atkins has publicly expressed a friendly stance towards crypto multiple times, stating that "the crypto market has been trapped in a regulatory gray area by the SEC for years," and promising to "return to the fundamental mission of promoting rather than suppressing innovation" during his tenure.

Major Personnel Changes in Core Departments

In addition to the change in chairmanship, the SEC's core departments have also seen several key personnel adjustments. Here are the significant position changes at the SEC from the beginning of the year to now:

Among the 10 executives who have changed, at least two new executives are considered to have experience in the crypto industry: Brian T. Daly, the Director of the Investment Management Division, and Jamie Selway, the Director of the Trading and Markets Division.

Brian T. Daly was previously a partner at the international law firm Akin Gump, where digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain were listed as areas of expertise in his official biography; Jamie Selway was a partner at Sophron Advisors and served as the global head of institutional markets for the crypto company Blockchain from 2018 to 2019.

More importantly, the two departments they oversee are extremely significant within the SEC's structure. The Investment Management Division is responsible for regulating investment products and services, including mutual funds, ETFs, closed-end funds, and registered investment advisers. The Trading and Markets Division governs the operational rules of market infrastructures such as exchanges, market makers, brokers, and clearinghouses. This means that crypto ETFs and the crypto trading environment are influenced by these two departments.

Meanwhile, the SEC's enforcement division, a key "power center," has also undergone a personnel overhaul. Gurbir Grewal, the former director of the enforcement division, who had a hardline stance on crypto, left in October 2024, having led several high-profile crypto lawsuits, including those against Ripple and Coinbase. According to Cornerstone Research data, in 2024, the SEC initiated 33 enforcement actions related to crypto, involving 90 defendants or respondents.

After Grewal's departure, Sanjay Wadhwa took over as acting director, and enforcement actions have noticeably slowed. Between February and March of this year, the SEC dropped lawsuits against several well-known crypto companies, including Coinbase, Consensys, Robinhood, Gemini, Uniswap, and Kraken.

Additionally, at the end of February, the SEC launched an employee "buyout program," offering $50,000 compensation to voluntarily departing employees, resulting in over 500 individuals choosing early retirement or resignation, accounting for about 10% of the agency's total workforce. This round of "internal slimming" has also created space for subsequent structural reorganization and policy shifts.

Has the SEC's "Crypto Rhythm" Changed?

In terms of regulatory direction, the SEC is engaging in intensive meetings and policy statements. In the first half of this year, the SEC has held six roundtable discussions related to crypto, covering core topics such as regulatory frameworks, custody mechanisms, asset tokenization, and DeFi.

On the regulatory front, it is also making strides. On May 30, the SEC issued a policy statement regarding staking activities on PoS networks, clarifying for the first time that three types of staking activities do not constitute securities offerings: including user-initiated staking, non-custodial third-party staking, and compliant custodial staking. This provides a clearer compliance pathway for current crypto staking services.

At the same time, ETF approvals are beginning to accelerate. On June 11, the SEC notified several institutions proposing to issue a Solana spot ETF, requiring them to resubmit revised S-1 filings within seven days and promising to complete review feedback within 30 days after submission.

Personnel changes, relaxed regulations, and softened attitudes. This agency, which once made countless crypto projects "walk on thin ice," is now re-engaging in dialogue with the industry.

Regulation will not disappear, but future regulation may no longer be a high-pressure net, but rather a bridge to co-construction.