tl;dr
The SEC, under the second Trump administration, is aggressively promoting cryptocurrency, prompting Democratic Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw to question whether the agency is disproportionately favoring the sector. At a crypto-focused roundtable with major Wall Street firms, Crenshaw expressed conc...
SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw has raised concerns that the SEC may be disproportionately promoting cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, warning against the agency effectively picking winners and losers in the industry. She questioned the premise of focusing specifically on blockchain adoption over other distributed ledger technologies, emphasizing that regulatory neutrality should prevail.
Meanwhile, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and influential Wall Street firms like BlackRock, Nasdaq, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton have voiced strong support for blockchain’s transformative potential. Atkins highlighted how tokenization could revolutionize securities markets by enabling faster, more accessible on-chain settlements, opening doors to novel market activities that current regulations do not address.
However, Crenshaw offered a critical perspective, noting that existing settlement delays on Wall Street play essential roles in fraud prevention and managing extremely high trading volumes by allowing flexibility to pause transactions when needed. She questioned whether blockchain networks could handle real-time settlement of every stock trade without risking system failures.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, head of the agency’s crypto task force, expressed optimism about blockchain's revolutionary potential but echoed Crenshaw’s caution regarding the integration of real-time crypto transactions with traditional finance. Peirce suggested that while the potential is significant, careful consideration is necessary before full adoption.
Under the second Trump administration, the SEC has aggressively promoted cryptocurrency, prompting Democratic Commissioner Crenshaw to publicly question whether the agency is overstepping by favoring the crypto sector. At a recent crypto-focused roundtable, these views sparked a vital debate over the balance between innovation and market stability, highlighting broader tensions around how securities regulations should evolve amid rapidly advancing blockchain technologies.