SEC moves to expand the scope of its enforcement efforts

Five people who have knowledge of the issue said that the Securities and Stock Exchange Committee is moving to expand the scope of a special unit that includes more than 50 lawyers and employees who have been devoted to bringing in encryption procedures.

This step is one of the first concrete steps for President Trump and his management to back down from the organization of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. One of Mr. Trump First executive orders It was aimed at enhancing encryption growth and “Eliminate organizational transgression” On digital assets.

The people said that some lawyers in the encryption unit are appointed in other departments in the Supreme Education Council. One of the senior lawyers in the unit was transferred from the enforcement department. Some people who have seen getting rid of this move as an unfair reduction.

A SEC spokesman rejected the comment.

Mr. Trump, who was previously a critical of the cryptocurrency, adopted digital assets during the 2024 presidential campaign and welcomed the support of the encryption community, which came to see the former SEC president, Gary Gensler, as its first enemy.

The Acting President of the Committee, Mark T. Oida, is a Republican who tends to be a supporter of the encryption industry. He has achieved a large number of appointments as he was shaking other SEC higher jobs, which employ more than 1,000 lawyers.

One of the first things that Mr. Uyeda has been prepared to review the SEC approach to deal with digital assets. The Hyster Peres Squad, SEC Commissioner and SEC Commissioner and Explicit Checks.

in Parking Mrs. Pears, published on Tuesday, was published on the Supreme Education Council website on the SEC website, with the previous approach to the committee to regulate the encryption and liken it to the car that cares on the road.

“The committee’s dealings were characterized by coding with legal inaccuracy and commercial treatment,” said Ms. Pearce. She said that the goal of the work group is to reach a regulatory framework that allows people to “experiment and build interesting things” without allowing the encryption to become a “sanctuary for those who are fraudulent”.

It is not clear what effect is the effect of reducing the volume of the coding unit on suspended enforcement procedures. One of the most Pros -cases It was presented in 2023 against Coinbase, accusing the encryption platform of violating federal securities laws through work unregistered books.

The Coinbase case is a test of Mr. Gensler that most digital assets are securities and are under the supervision of SEC, a position rejected by Coinbase and the encryption industry.

“What his new leadership in SEC suggests to do for encryption is to remove the limits of speed and grades that made our capital markets stronger in the world,” said Cori Fryer, who was a great advisor to Mr. Jinsler on encryption issues and recently left the agency.

SEC’s encryption enforcement unit was created in 2017 during the first Trump administration, but it expanded dramatically during the period of Mr. Jinsler. In May 2022, the agency Declare It was almost doubled the size of the team to 50 dedicated locations. The Securities and the Stock Exchange said at the time that the unit had lifted more than 80 enforcement measures “related to the offers and platforms of fraudulent and unregistered encryption.” A recent dream shows that it has brought more than 100 encryption procedures during the Biden administration.

Mr. Trump nominated Paul Atkins, a lawyer who has close relations with the encryption industry, to succeed Mr. Jinsler. Mr. Atkins, Who was the SEC Commissioner During the era of President George W. Bush, Long preferred a lighter approach to regulations and enforcement. The Senate Banking Committee did not specify the date of its confirmation session.

Since the victory of Mr. Trump, encryption companies have been mobilized to try to punish SEC officials who have made legal cases against them. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, He said on social media His company will not work with law firms that rented senior SEC officials who participated in the encryption campaign.

Mr. Jinsler, who left the Supreme Education Council on the day the opening of Mr. Trump, join The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught it to President Joseph R. Biden Junior.

After the announcement, Tyler Winkelvos, one of the founders of exchanging Gemini, He said His company will not employ any graduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even as trainees.

Alain delaquérière The research contributed.