Acting SEC Chairman Quits Agency's Cryptocurrency Trading Platform Proposal
Mark Uyeda believes that the regulator's long-awaited rule regarding the expansion of the number of regulated exchanges should not have covered cryptocurrency.
Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Updated Mar 10, 2025 17:19 UTC Published Mar 10, 2025 17:30 UTC
What you need to know:
- The acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to eliminate a portion of a proposed rule on cryptocurrencies that would expand the definition of exchanges required to register and be supervised by the agency.
- Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda has instructed his staff to find ways to cut the section on cryptocurrencies.
One of the SEC's proposals to regulate the cryptocurrency market segments under its jurisdiction was intended to expand the number of trading platforms it wanted to register to include digital asset firms. But acting Chairman Mark Uyeda is set to reverse that move.
The rule has been in the works for several years and is awaiting final approval from the agency, but Uyeda asked the SEC staff to pause the process.
“I believe it was a mistake for the commission to tie regulation of the Treasury bond markets to a heavy-handed attempt to regulate the cryptocurrency market,” he said in comments to be presented Monday to the Institute of International Bankers in Washington. “Given the significant amount of negative commentary received on the definition of exchange in the context of cryptocurrencies, I have asked the SEC staff to propose options for eliminating this portion of the proposal.”
Read more: Industry officials say the US Securities and Exchange Commission has no right to include DeFi in proposed exchange rule
According to Uyeda, the new approach the agency tried to take to identify exchanges under its supervision was to include certain “communication protocols,” but they were fairly unambiguous and the final proposal “would include various protocols related to crypto assets.”
The proposal to impose the rule was one of several introduced during the tenure of former Chairman Gary Gensler, whose handling of cryptocurrencies has come under criticism from new leadership appointed by President Donald Trump.
