Crypto Ally Paul Atkins Sworn In to Replace Gary Gensler Atop U.S. SEC

Paul Atkins has taken the oath to formally become chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which returns Mark Uyeda to his previous role as a Republican Commissioner after three busy months of service as the agency's stand-in chief.

Atkins permanently replaces the former chair, Gary Gensler, who the crypto industry had widely seen as its chief antagonist in the U.S. government. But Uyeda and fellow Commissioner Hester Peirce have already put the SEC on a path toward greater acceptance of digital assets, forming a crypto task force, shedding a long list of industry enforcement actions and gathering industry representatives at a series of crypto roundtables. The agency's staff also released statements announcing various corners of crypto as outside its securities jurisdiction.