Mark Uyeda has been appointed acting SEC chair by President Trump, signaling a shift from Gary Gensler’s stringent crypto policies. Uyeda plans to clarify regulations and address issues like crypto ETFs, with Paul Atkins nominated as permanent chair to foster a more crypto-friendly SEC.
Pres. Trump has named Mark Uyeda, a Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), acting chair of the agency. This comes after Gary Gensler quit as chair of the SEC while President Joe Biden was in office.
When Uyeda became an SEC Commissioner in 2022, he was supposed to bring a fresh point of view to the leadership of the commission. His appointment comes after Gensler quit, whose time in office was marked by tense relationships with the cryptocurrency business.
Uyeda has previously spoken out strongly against the SEC’s harsh stance under Gensler, saying that the earlier rules were terrible for the industry. His main goal is to make rules more clear and end what he calls the “war on crypto” that began under Biden’s government.
The Controversial leadership of Gensler
Gary Gensler, who became chair of the SEC in 2021, used a strategy called “regulation by enforcement” while he was in charge.
Gensler’s SEC took more than 100 steps against people and businesses in the crypto space, which made leaders in the industry even more angry. Several well-known crypto companies, such as Coinbase, Binance, Ripple, and Kraken, were sued by the SEC while he was in charge.
The most important of these moves was the lawsuit that is still going on against Ripple over its XRP token. A lot of people in the crypto community are angry about the case, and many want clearer and more uniform rules.
The Blockchain Association, which speaks for big names in the crypto business, said that Gensler’s actions had cost its members more than $429 million in legal fees.
Billionaire Mark Cuban publicly voiced their relief that Gensler was leaving, indicating that his time in the job had had a lasting negative effect on the industry.
Now that Uyeda is in charge, there is a good chance that the SEC will change its mind, which could put an end to long-running regulatory fights like the Ripple case.
Mark Uyeda’s approach that is friendly to crypto
Many people think that Mark Uyeda is friendlier to crypto than his boss. His view is in line with the growing number of crypto enthusiasts who want simpler and friendlier rules.
While he was an SEC Commissioner, Uyeda had expressed concerns about how digital assets were regulated. As acting chair, he is said to plan to deal with these problems directly.
Some of Gensler’s more controversial practices will be undone by Uyeda, who has already said that is his plan. One thing he really wants to do is get rid of the regulatory uncertainty that has been affecting the crypto business.
By doing this, he wants to make it easier for cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be approved. This could be a big step toward more people using digital assets.
What the SEC will do after Paul Atkins takes over
President Trump has chosen Paul Atkins, a former SEC Commissioner, to be the permanent chair of the agency. Uyeda has been named as the temporary chair.
Atkins is known for being pro-business and having experience with financial regulation. He is likely to lead the SEC in a way that wants less government involvement in capital markets and more open rules for new technologies like cryptocurrency.
Atkins’ confirmation needs to be approved by the Senate, but his hiring is seen as a key step toward changing how the SEC deals with digital assets. If accepted, Atkins and Uyeda will likely work together to change the way regulations are written and maybe make the U.S. a better place for crypto.
