SEC’s Atkins Unleashes Crypto Crackdown: New Regulatory Map Sparks Industry Tremors

Wall Street’s least favorite anarchists—crypto builders—just got a fresh rulebook etched in regulatory red tape. SEC Chair Atkins drops the hammer with a compliance roadmap that’ll make DeFi degens sweat.

The New Sheriff in Town: No More Wild West

Forget ’move fast and break things’—Atkins’ blueprint forces crypto projects to walk slow and carry big disclosure documents. Token issuers now face SEC scrutiny sharper than a Bitcoin maximalist’s Twitter threads.

Compliance or Die: The Looming Deadline

Exchanges and protocols have 90 days to align or face the music—likely a symphony of subpoenas and fines that’d even make a Goldman Sachs compliance officer blush. Meanwhile, ETH stakers nervously check their wallets.

The Ironic Twist

Nothing unites crypto bros faster than a common enemy—except maybe another bull run. As the SEC flexes its muscles, trading volumes spike... because nothing fuels adoption like good old-fashioned regulatory panic. (Bonus jab: TradFi bankers suddenly remember they ’always believed in blockchain’—right after shorting BTC last quarter.)

Issuance Guidelines Under Scrutiny

According to Atkins, only four crypto issuers have used the SEC’s full registration or “Regulation A” since these tokens first appeared. That small number, he said, shows that current forms—like the long FORM S-1—can feel like “a square peg in a round hole.” He suggested carving out clear paths, including new exemptions or safe harbors, so token offerings can meet basic disclosure needs without pages of irrelevant details.

Rethinking Custody Rules

Based on reports, the SEC has already scrapped Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, which had tangled up firms wanting to hold digital assets. The speaker called that MOVE just the first step. He urged a fresh look at who can act as a “qualified custodian,” noting that some funds and advisers now use self-custody tools that may offer strong safeguards. Only two “special purpose broker-dealers” exist today, and he hinted that their narrow rules might be replaced with a more sensible model.

Atkins said it’s time to let brokers build “super apps” where customers can trade stocks, crypto and other products in a single place. He pointed out that nothing in current law bars broker-dealers from listing non-security tokens alongside shares. To make that happen, he’s asking staff to update the rules for alternative trading systems, and to weigh whether national exchanges might host token listings in the future.

Atkins also highlighted a newly formed Crypto Task Force led by two fellow commissioners. He said this group fixes years of agency silos by pooling policy, legal and technical teams. Coordination, he added, will speed up clear signals for investors and businesses. That effort, he noted, follows a call from US President Donald TRUMP to make the US “crypto capital of the planet.”

The regulator underlined three main areas—issuance, custody and trading—and said each needs tailored rules. He argued that fresh standards will protect investors by spelling out what counts as a security, how tokens must be held, and where they can trade. He also promised to keep enforcement focused on fraud and manipulation, rather than using enforcement actions to shape policy.

Featured image from Forkast News/Canva, chart from TradingView