The SEC's Reset: What Paul Atkins Means for Crypto

The SEC just flipped from enforcement-first to something else entirely. I've watched this agency through four chairs now, and this transition is different.

The Gensler Era, By the Numbers

Let's be clear about what we're leaving behind: $6.05 billion in crypto penalties. 125 enforcement actions. More cases in four years than the previous eight combined.

I spent years advising companies on how to survive this environment. The strategy was simple:

Assume everything is a security
Document why your token might not be
Build your compliance program for the worst case

It worked, but it was exhausting.

The Georgetown Law Securities Enforcement Empirical Database tells the story:

Under Jay Clayton: $1.52 billion, 70 cases
Under Gary Gensler: nearly 4× the dollars, almost 2× the cases

This wasn't just aggressive enforcement—it was a deliberate strategy to regulate through litigation.

What Changes Under Atkins

Paul Atkins is a known quantity. He ran the SEC's enforcement division under Bush, then spent fifteen years in private practice advising the industry. He understands both sides.

The first signals matter. I'm watching for three things in the first 90 days:

1. Staff guidance on token classification

The Howey test is 80 years old. We need modern frameworks for decentralized networks.

If Atkins issues staff guidance that acknowledges functional tokens aren't always securities, that's transformational. It won't rewrite the law, but it will reshape:

How staff reviews new products
How aggressively cases are brought
How courts interpret the SEC's posture

2. Enforcement case selection

Discretion is policy.

Key questions:

Will pending Wells notices get pulled or narrowed?
Will the SEC keep pursuing cases against protocols that registered with FinCEN and complied with AML requirements?

The answers will tell us whether this is rhetoric or real change.

3. Registration pathways

For years, the line was: "come in and register." The reality: there was no workable path for most token projects or trading platforms.

What to watch:

Proposed rules that create bespoke registration frameworks for token issuers
Clear regimes for trading platforms that handle both tokens and traditional assets
Transitional or sandbox-style regimes for projects trying to decentralize over time

If we see even draft pathways, that's a structural shift.

What Operators Should Do Now

This is not the time to relax compliance programs. It's the time to optimize them.

The worst outcome is building for enforcement that doesn't come while missing opportunities that do.

Here's the framework I use with teams:

Reassess your legal analysis

If you shelved projects because of Howey risk, pull those files back out.

The underlying analysis may still be right
But the enforcement probability just changed
That changes the cost–benefit calculation for:
Launch timing
Jurisdiction strategy
Token design and distribution mechanics

Document your good faith

If clearer rules arrive, the companies that benefit most will be those who can show they tried to comply all along.

Make sure you can evidence:

Your written legal analyses and memos
Your compliance program design and updates
Your attempts to engage with regulators and SROs
Your decisions to avoid or exit higher-risk structures

Regulators and courts care about intent and process, especially in a transition period.

Watch the first enforcement actions

Speeches are signaling. Cases are policy.

Pay close attention to:

Who the SEC pursues
Who they pass on
How settlements are structured

A case against an unregistered exchange that ignored AML tells a very different story than a case against a DeFi protocol that tried to decentralize and implement controls.

Read complaints, not just headlines.

The Structural Reality

Here's what doesn't change:

The securities laws are still the securities laws
The Howey test doesn't disappear because of a new chair
Courts don't suddenly forget precedent

What's changing is discretion:

How the SEC chooses to use its limited resources
Which cases it brings (and which it quietly declines)
What guidance it issues—and what it leaves to the courts

That discretion matters enormously. But it's not a blank slate.

How to Position for the Transition

I've seen regulatory cycles before. The companies that win are the ones who:

Build for compliance during enforcement eras
Move fast during permissive ones

Right now, we're in between. That means:

Keep your baseline compliance strong
Reopen previously marginal ideas with fresh risk–reward math
Design products that can survive both a crackdown and a thaw

The question isn't whether crypto gets regulated. It's how—and the answer just changed.