Paul Atkins wants you to know the SEC isn’t in the business of choosing winners and losers. The agency’s chairman, marking roughly one year since taking the helm, used a CNBC Squawk Box appearance to declare “a new day at the SEC,” a phrase that doubles as both a mission statement and a not-so-subtle jab at his predecessor’s approach.
From enforcement hammer to regulatory partner
Atkins was sworn in as the 34th SEC Chairman on April 21, 2025, after being nominated by President Trump. His first year has been defined by a systematic dismantling of the enforcement-first posture that characterized the Gensler era.
The centerpiece initiative is “Project Crypto,” launched on July 31, 2025. The program’s core assertion is one that would have been unthinkable from the prior administration: most crypto assets are not securities.
Project Crypto introduced token taxonomies, essentially a classification system that distinguishes between different types of digital assets based on their actual characteristics rather than applying a blanket “it’s probably a security” approach. The initiative also includes safe harbor proposals for startups, giving early-stage projects room to develop without immediate threat of enforcement action.
