In April 2025, Paul S. Atkins was sworn in because the thirty fourth Chair of the U.S. Securities and Change Fee (SEC), marking a big shift within the company’s stance towards digital belongings. Nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in a 52–44 vote, Atkins takes over from Gary Gensler with a mandate to recalibrate crypto regulation.
A former SEC Commissioner (2002–2008) recognized for advocating cost-benefit evaluation and market-friendly insurance policies, Atkins has publicly vowed to determine a “firm regulatory foundation for digital assets” by a “rational, coherent, and principled” strategy.
This represents a transparent break from the earlier administration’s technique of “regulation by enforcement,” which drew heavy criticism from the crypto {industry} for its aggressiveness and lack of clear guidelines.
Certainly, Coinbase’s chief authorized officer applauded Atkins’ appointment as “sorely needed and cannot come a day too soon”, reflecting the optimism amongst crypto stakeholders.
Atkins brings not solely regulatory expertise but in addition direct involvement within the digital asset sector. He helped develop finest practices for the crypto {industry} in his post-SEC profession and even disclosed private investments of as much as $6 million in crypto-related belongings (together with stakes in a crypto custodian and a tokenization platform) throughout his affirmation.
Whereas this crypto-friendly background indicators an embrace of innovation, it has additionally raised eyebrows. Senator Elizabeth Warren described Atkins’ potential conflicts of curiosity as “breathtaking”, underscoring considerations {that a} extra industry-sympathetic SEC may go too tender on investor safety.
Balancing these views, Atkins has promised to “go back to the basics” of the SEC’s mission – defending buyers, guaranteeing honest markets, and facilitating capital formation – however with a contemporary technique for digital belongings.
Beneath, we look at how Chair Atkins is predicted to manage three key classes of rising belongings: non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming-related digital belongings, and tokenized real-world belongings (RWA). We additionally distinction his strategy with that of former Chair Gensler, highlighting philosophical and strategic variations.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – From Crackdown to Readability
Gensler’s Crackdown: Underneath Gary Gensler, the SEC began scrutinizing NFTs as a possible automobile for unregistered securities choices. In 2023, the SEC introduced enforcement actions in opposition to a number of NFT issuers – for instance, charging Los Angeles-based firm Affect Principle for a $30 million NFT sale that the SEC argued was primarily an funding contract (the agency had inspired consumers to view NFTs as an funding in its enterprise).
One other high-profile case concerned the “Stoner Cats” NFT venture, which was fined for elevating funds by NFT gross sales to fund an online sequence, deemed by regulators as an unregistered securities providing.
Gensler’s SEC even probed main NFT marketplaces and creators; investigations into OpenSea (the biggest NFT buying and selling platform) and Yuga Labs (creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Membership NFTs) had been launched to find out if sure token gross sales certified as securities.
This aggressive posture despatched a chill by the nascent NFT {industry} – any token, even digital artwork or collectibles, that was marketed with an expectation of revenue may turn into an SEC goal.
Atkins’ Shift to Readability: The Atkins-led SEC is poised to take a extra nuanced and measured strategy to NFTs. Even earlier than Atkins took workplace, the Fee had begun quietly pulling again on some NFT enforcement.
In late 2024, the SEC withdrew sure lawsuits in opposition to NFT initiatives, selecting to order enforcement for less than essentially the most egregious instances involving “clear promises of returns” or fraud (primarily, Ponzi-like NFT schemes).
Furthermore, in early 2025, the SEC dropped its probes into OpenSea and Yuga Labs, a transfer welcomed by the {industry} as an indication of aid. However, authorized specialists cautioned that this didn’t imply NFTs have a free go; whether or not an NFT is deemed a safety will “depend on how it is sold,” i.e. the specifics of the transaction and the guarantees made to consumers.
In different phrases, an NFT purely functioning as a digital collectible or paintings might fall exterior SEC purview, whereas one offered as an funding with an expectation of revenue may nonetheless be topic to securities legislation.
Atkins seems intent on drawing a clearer line between these two eventualities. He’s anticipated to prioritize steering over crackdown within the NFT area – offering the market with clearer standards for when an NFT may be thought-about a safety (for example, fractionalized NFTs or those who embrace profit-sharing rights possible nonetheless set off SEC scrutiny).
This extra “rational and coherent” stance stands in stark distinction to the earlier strategy of casting a large internet. By focusing enforcement on outright scams and ponzi-like token schemes, Atkins’ SEC goals to foster a artistic NFT financial system whereas nonetheless policing fraud. Such an strategy aligns with the brand new Chair’s broader philosophy of not “predetermining economic winners and losers” by overzealous regulation.
It additionally heeds Commissioner Hester Peirce’s name for “clear and reasonable boundaries of regulatory authority” in order that compliance is achieved through rulemaking fairly than courtroom battles. The approaching months might even see the SEC concern interpretive steering or perhaps a report on NFTs (analogous to its 2017 DAO Report), clarifying how securities legal guidelines apply on this area.
For NFT creators and marketplaces, Atkins’ tenure to this point indicators a extra open dialogue: the main target is on transparency and compliance methods going ahead, fairly than punishing previous gross sales that had been carried out in murky regulatory waters.
Gaming Tokens and Digital Assets – Recognizing Utility vs. Hypothesis
Play-to-Earn or Pay-to-Play (by SEC guidelines)? Digital belongings in video video games and on-line worlds – together with in-game cryptocurrencies, tokens, and gaming NFTs – type one other frontier of regulation. Underneath the prior SEC regime, these belongings had been largely seen by the identical lens as different tokens.
Chair Gensler repeatedly asserted that the “vast majority” of crypto tokens are securities, with “all digital assets other than Bitcoin” falling below SEC jurisdiction in his view. This uncompromising stance implied that even tokens primarily used for gameplay or digital items may very well be deemed securities if, in substance, they concerned an funding scheme.
For instance, if a sport developer offered tokens to the general public to finance sport improvement (with guarantees that the tokens would rise in worth as the sport grew in style), the SEC would possible think about it an unregistered securities providing.
Underneath Gensler, the SEC didn’t carve out exceptions for “utility tokens” utilized in video games – as regulators typically famous, “merely calling a token a ‘utility’…does not prevent [it] from being a security”. This lack of distinction sowed uncertainty for blockchain gaming corporations.
In truth, by late 2024 the SEC had reportedly prolonged investigations into blockchain gaming companies like Immutable (a platform for in-game NFTs and tokens), leaving the whole Web3 gaming sector uncertain of what token actions may set off enforcement.
Atkins’ Stage-Up for Sport Assets: The brand new SEC management indicators a larger recognition of the distinction between speculative crypto investments and real in-game utility belongings. A telling improvement got here in March 2025, when the SEC terminated its inquiry into Immutable and associated gaming initiatives, discovering no violations and opting to not pursue enforcement.
Immutable’s president, Robbie Ferguson, lauded this final result as bringing “regulatory clarity to the Web3 gaming industry” and predicted it might “drive more institutional investment” into blockchain video games. The choice means that regulators, below Atkins, concluded these gaming tokens weren’t getting used as funding contracts in apply.
It marks a notable shift to a extra permissive (or at the very least, understanding) stance: if a token’s major perform is for use inside a sport ecosystem (for taking part in, buying and selling in-game gadgets, or rewarding gamers), and never marketed for profit-potential, the SEC is extra inclined to let it’s.
Transferring ahead, we anticipate Atkins will work to articulate clear tips for gaming-related digital belongings. The purpose is to make sure “utility tokens” get handled by their use-case, not simply by their identify. This might contain components like: whether or not the token is offered to buyers or solely earned by gameplay, whether or not its worth is tied primarily to sport utility or speculative demand, and what guarantees (if any) are made to purchasers.
By partaking with the {industry} – for example, by the SEC’s new Crypto Process Pressure and public roundtables – the company can refine its strategy in collaboration with sport builders. Certainly, one of many SEC’s spring 2025 roundtables focuses on “DeFi and the American Spirit”, a dialogue more likely to contact on decentralized gaming economies as properly.
Such dialogue-based governance is a far cry from the confrontational tone of prior years and aligns with Atkins’ intent to manage with the market fairly than in opposition to it.
It’s value noting {that a} extra accommodative strategy doesn’t imply gaming tokens are utterly off the hook. Atkins’ SEC will nonetheless police schemes the place a “game” is merely veneer for fundraising. Initiatives that promote tokens with grand guarantees (“buy our tokens now and profit as our metaverse expands!”) will stay within the crosshairs as potential unregistered securities.
However, bona fide gaming platforms integrating blockchain – suppose play-to-earn video games the place tokens reward gamers for participation – might discover a extra receptive regulator keen to offer no-action assurances or tailor-made guidelines. By acknowledging the utility facet of those digital belongings, Atkins goals to keep away from stifling a burgeoning sector that merges tech innovation with leisure.
The broader impression is that corporations within the blockchain gaming house can function with much less worry of sudden enforcement, so long as they keep away from treating their gamers like passive buyers. This balanced mindset may hold the U.S. as a aggressive hub for Web3 gaming improvement, whereas a inflexible Gensler-style strategy risked driving these initiatives abroad.
As one commentator put it, the SEC’s current flexibility is popping a possible “game over” right into a “game on” for the crypto gaming {industry} – albeit below cheap guardrails that Atkins believes can defend gamers and buyers alike.
Tokenized Actual-World Assets – Bridging Conventional Finance and Blockchain
The Promise and Peril of RWA: “Tokenized real-world assets” (typically abbreviated RWA) consult with digital tokens that symbolize possession of tangible or conventional monetary belongings – for instance, tokens representing shares of inventory, fractions of actual property, commodities, bonds, and even wonderful artwork.
This idea holds transformative promise: by placing actual belongings on blockchains, buying and selling can turn into extra environment friendly and accessible 24/7, with doubtlessly larger liquidity and transparency. Underneath Gary Gensler, the SEC’s stance on RWA was guarded. Gensler acknowledged that nothing about crypto expertise negates the necessity for investor safety– a tokenized inventory remains to be a inventory, and thus topic to securities legal guidelines.
His SEC didn’t actively oppose tokenization outright, but it surely offered no particular lodging for it both. In apply, that meant any agency providing tokenized securities needed to absolutely adjust to present registration, disclosure, and change rules.
The earlier Fee proposed broad guidelines (corresponding to increasing the definition of “exchange” to seize crypto buying and selling platforms) which, if enacted, may have made buying and selling tokenized belongings on decentralized platforms unlawful with out broker-dealer registration.
This cautious strategy, critics argued, left the U.S. behind as different jurisdictions experimented with regulated tokenized bonds or funds. Safety token initiatives complained that Gensler’s SEC provided little steering on how they may lawfully concern and commerce tokenized belongings past telling them to “come in and register” – a course of ill-suited for novel blockchain-based markets.
Atkins’ Embrace of Tokenization: Paul Atkins seems much more obsessed with integrating blockchain into conventional finance. His personal monetary ties underscore this: previous to taking workplace, Atkins had board or fairness stakes in Securitize (a platform for tokenizing real-world belongings) and a fintech agency known as Pontoro. Whereas he has pledged to divest these holdings to keep away from conflicts, the perception he gained from them is more likely to inform the SEC’s coverage.
Observers notice that Atkins’ appointment “signals an immediate shift toward more crypto-friendly regulation” and a push to “reduce barriers to capital and crypto markets”, according to the Trump administration’s purpose of eliminating rules that stifle innovation. Within the context of RWA, this implies making a regulatory setting the place tokenization initiatives can flourish below clear guidelines.
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a number one crypto proponent, mentioned she expects Atkins will “work quickly to provide regulatory certainty for the digital asset industry” – which would come with readability on tokenized shares, bonds, and different devices.
Early indicators of this route are evident. The SEC has scheduled a public roundtable in Could 2025 on “Asset Tokenization and Integration with Traditional Finance”, signaling that the company is actively looking for enter on the best way to modernize guidelines to accommodate blockchain-based belongings. Quite than shunning tokenization, the Fee below Atkins is exploring the best way to harness it safely.
This might contain updating custody guidelines (so brokers can securely maintain tokenized securities), refining disclosure necessities for on-chain issuances, and coordinating with different regulators on points like settlement and market infrastructure.
The brand new Chair has additionally indicated assist for legislative efforts to outline digital belongings in legislation. He might again the proposed “Digital Asset Market Structure Act,” which goals to delineate regulatory jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC and make clear what counts as a safety token versus a commodity token. By decreasing regulatory overlap and uncertainty, such laws would instantly profit RWA initiatives.
Critically, Atkins’ SEC appears inclined to approve or at the very least severely entertain modern tokenized merchandise that had been stalled below Gensler. It now has 70+ crypto-related ETF purposes within the queue – starting from spot Bitcoin ETFs to extra unique crypto asset funds – and analysts describe issuers taking a “spaghetti cannon approach” to see what the brand new regime may enable.
Outdoors of ETFs, corporations like Robinhood are “accelerating their push” into choices like tokenized equities, explicitly as a result of the regulatory local weather is “shifting in [their] favor” with Atkins on the helm. This palpable optimism means that tokenized shares or funds, as soon as almost taboo, may quickly hit U.S. markets by correct channels.
Even Wall Road giants are vocal – BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has touted tokenization because the “future of markets,” and with an SEC chief now sympathetic to that imaginative and prescient, collaborations between conventional finance and crypto tech are anticipated to deepen.
In fact, a honest and demanding evaluation should notice that easing the trail for tokenization carries dangers. The SEC might want to make sure that investor protections (disclosures, antifraud provisions, and so on.) stay sturdy on this new medium. Atkins has framed his mission as making the U.S. “the best and most secure place in the world to invest and do business”.
Thus, his strategy to RWAs will possible pair deregulation within the type of eradicating “unnecessary barriers to entry” with vigilance on core protections. We’d see, for instance, streamlined approval for a blockchain-based securities change – however coupled with strict reporting requirements and oversight of that change’s operations. The online impact may very well be a win-win: reliable asset tokenization ventures get a inexperienced mild, whereas scams (e.g. sham “tokenized real estate” choices with no actual belongings behind them) nonetheless get shut down.
If profitable, Atkins’ technique may place the U.S. as a pacesetter within the tokenization of finance, unlocking capital and liquidity in new methods, a lot as his supporters predict.
From Gensler to Atkins: A Philosophical and Strategic Shift
The change in SEC management from Gary Gensler to Paul Atkins represents a tectonic shift in regulatory philosophy. Whereas each males profess the identical statutory mission, their interpretations and ways differ sharply:
Regulatory Philosophy: Gensler maintained that present securities legal guidelines are largely ample for crypto; he famously took the view that almost each digital asset (aside from Bitcoin) is a safety by default. Underneath his tenure, the SEC for years declined to put in writing new crypto guidelines or definitions, insisting the {industry} “figured it out” on their very own at their peril.
In distinction, Atkins espouses a philosophy of engagement and replace. He acknowledges that the digital asset market wants a “regulatory foundation” constructed on readability and modernized guidelines. Quite than stretching 90-year-old legal guidelines to cowl each blockchain token, he favors working “with…Congress” to fill in gaps and explicitly “clarify the standards for distinguishing between securities and non-securities tokens”.
Philosophically, Gensler was extra of a strict constructionist of securities legislation, whereas Atkins is extra of a reformer looking for to adapt the framework to up to date markets.
Enforcement vs. Steering (Strategic Method): Underneath Gensler, the SEC’s major instrument was regulation by enforcement. The company introduced quite a few high-profile instances in opposition to crypto exchanges (e.g. Coinbase, Binance), token issuers, lending platforms, and even NFT creators, typically with out accompanying steering or rulemaking.
This strategy, described by many within the {industry} as capricious and opaque, led to accusations that the SEC was successfully making coverage by lawsuits.
Atkins, against this, is pivoting in the direction of “dialogue-based governance”. Within the first months of 2025, the Fee (led first by Appearing Chair Mark Uyeda and now Atkins) dropped or settled a number of crypto enforcement actions – some in opposition to main companies like Coinbase, ConsenSys, Gemini, and Uniswap had been reportedly halted or reassessed.
Concurrently, the SEC launched a Crypto Process Pressure to liaise with {industry} and scheduled a number of public roundtables on crypto buying and selling, custody, DeFi, and tokenization. This technique suggests Atkins prefers to set coverage by consensus-building and clear guidelines, utilizing enforcement extra selectively (focusing on fraud and egregious violations) fairly than as a blanket coverage instrument.
Tone on Innovation: Gensler’s tenure was characterised by a guarded, typically skeptical tone towards crypto innovation. He regularly highlighted the dangers of crypto – fraud, market volatility, investor hurt – and confirmed willingness to sacrifice some innovation with the intention to implement compliance. In apply, this meant many novel crypto merchandise (from lending yields to tokenized shares) had been stymied or pushed offshore because of regulatory worry or uncertainty.
In distinction, Atkins strikes a tone of certified optimism. He has “spoken favorably of blockchain technology within financial systems” previously and indicators that the SEC shouldn’t impede the expansion of digital asset markets as long as core investor protections are met.
The brand new Chair’s mindset is summed up in a guideline from a current White Home directive: rules “should not predetermine economic winners and losers” nor “reduce competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation”. In apply, Atkins’ SEC is extra possible to provide the good thing about the doubt to innovators – permitting pilot applications, sandboxes, or exemptions to let new merchandise come to market below supervision – whereas Gensler’s SEC was extra more likely to say “no” first and ask questions later.
That mentioned, Atkins isn’t an uncritical cheerleader: his promise to uphold the SEC’s investor safety mandate means outright speculative mania with out disclosure received’t get a free experience. It’s a extra balanced rhetoric: encouraging accountable innovation, versus Gensler’s emphasis on reining in irresponsible innovation.
Trade and Political Reception: The divergent approaches have elicited very totally different responses. Trade gamers, who typically felt antagonized by Gensler, have largely welcomed Atkins. As famous, crypto executives described his arrival as a “ray of hope” and U.S. companies like Robinhood instantly started charting expanded crypto choices in expectation of a friendlier regime.
Underneath Gensler, some corporations confronted a selection of compliance puzzles or lawsuits – prompting lawsuits in opposition to the SEC in return (Coinbase sued the SEC for lack of rulemaking, for example) and resulting in courtroom battles that typically undercut Gensler’s claims (e.g. the partial court docket victory for Ripple in 2023, the place a choose dominated XRP gross sales on exchanges weren’t securities by default).
Atkins goals to keep away from such deadlocks by addressing considerations upfront and mending the SEC’s relationship with the sector. Politically, Gensler’s aggressive stance happy sure lawmakers (many Democrats, like Sen. Warren, praised his robust enforcement), however drew ire from others (Republican lawmakers regularly accused him of overreach).
Atkins, as a Trump-appointed Republican, enjoys assist from pro-crypto legislators who see him as an ally for smart guidelines. However, he faces skepticism from staunch crypto critics who fear the SEC may turn into too lenient and even “captured” by the {industry}. Throughout his Senate listening to, Atkins acknowledged the “backlash” the SEC had incurred and known as some prior practices “disturbing,” vowing to “boost the Commission’s image” and restore belief.
This means a need to be seen as honest by the broad public – not only a crypto booster – as he navigates between fostering innovation and stopping abuse.
In sum, the place Gary Gensler noticed the crypto world largely as a Wild West to be tamed with the whip of enforcement, Paul Atkins sees a creating frontier that must be guided with a extra nuanced hand. Gensler leaned on Twentieth-century interpretations to manage Twenty first-century belongings, typically leading to adversarial showdowns; Atkins is inclined to replace the rulebook for the 2020s, looking for collaborative enter and solely drawing the road when mandatory.
This philosophical shift is already manifesting in day-to-day SEC coverage: fewer headline-grabbing lawsuits, extra engagement with {industry}, and a concerted effort to really write rules (or assist laws) that tackle digital belongings explicitly.
Whether or not one strategy is “better” will finally be judged by outcomes – can Atkins’ SEC defend buyers as successfully as Gensler’s did, whereas additionally fostering a more healthy setting for innovation? Early indications are promising, however solely time (and clever execution) will inform if this important steadiness may be achieved.
Conclusion
As Paul Atkins assumes the reins of the SEC, the regulatory panorama for digital belongings is present process a cautious however consequential recalibration. Within the realms of NFTs, gaming tokens, and tokenized real-world belongings, Atkins’ message is one among “rational” calibration fairly than blunt-force crackdown. He seems decided to attract clearer strains: distinguishing artwork and collectibles from funding contracts, distinguishing in-game economies from securities markets, and distinguishing real asset tokenization from illegal choices.
This nuanced strategy, backed by public statements and early coverage strikes, displays an optimism that good regulation can each defend buyers and permit novel markets to thrive. It’s a departure from the prior chair’s philosophy that noticed almost each crypto innovation as a possible menace to be smothered below present legislation.
Atkins’ tenure remains to be in its infancy, and being “critical yet fair,” one should acknowledge the street forward isn’t with out hazards. By easing up on across-the-board enforcement, the SEC dangers making a grey zone – {industry} gamers have to be cautious to not misread regulatory forbearance as a inexperienced mild for reckless conduct.
As one authorized skilled famous concerning the current enforcement pullbacks, the absence of lively instances may depart the {industry} in a “vacuum” of uncertainty that solely formal steering or new legal guidelines can fill. Atkins might want to comply with by on issuing that steering and supporting these new legal guidelines; in any other case, the readability he guarantees may stay patchy.
Furthermore, his pleasant stance will certainly be examined the second a significant fraud or market meltdown happens on his watch – the true measure of his strategy will probably be how swiftly and decisively the SEC responds in such crises, proving that “crypto-friendly” doesn’t imply “fraud-friendly.”
Nonetheless, the strategic variations between Atkins and Gensler are stark and, many argue, refreshing. By realigning the SEC towards rulemaking, public engagement, and focused enforcement, Chair Atkins is charting a course that would make the U.S. a world chief in accountable digital asset innovation.
Already, the change in tone has led to tangible shifts: beforehand reluctant corporations are increasing crypto choices domesticallythe-cfo.io, and worldwide observers see the U.S. regulatory stance softening after years of hostility. Atkins’ personal phrases upon being sworn in encapsulate the steadiness he strives for: “Together we will work to ensure that the U.S. is the best and most secure place in the world to invest and do business”.
Attaining “the best” whereas sustaining “the secure” is not any simple job – but when Atkins can present clear guidelines for NFTs, gaming belongings, and RWAs that legitimize these markets with out inviting abuse, he’ll certainly have engineered a pivotal regulatory evolution.
In evaluating the 2 eras – Gensler’s and Atkins’ – a good conclusion is that neither excessive enforcement nor whole laissez-faire is a viable long-term technique. The SEC’s credibility will depend on defending buyers and fostering honest, orderly markets. Gensler hammered the primary level, arguably on the expense of the second; Atkins is now tilting again towards the middle.
His early initiatives (dropping marginal instances, convening roundtables, articulating guiding rules) have set a constructive tone. The approaching 12 months will reveal how this interprets into concrete coverage – be it new safe-harbor guidelines for tokens, approvals of long-pending crypto ETFs, or clearer definitions distinguishing a sport coin from a inventory.
The digital asset {industry} and its skeptics alike ought to keep engaged on this course of. A sustainable regulatory framework for digital belongings within the U.S. would require enter and compromise from either side of the aisle and either side of the crypto debate.
In steering that course of, Paul Atkins has positioned himself as a practical referee, one who understands the sport however is unafraid to name fouls. His tenure affords a important alternative to get crypto regulation proper – a possibility solid in distinction to his predecessor’s path, and one which, if executed properly, may benefit buyers, innovators, and the markets at massive.
