U.S. SEC's Acting Chair Walking Back Agency Proposal on Crypto Trading Platforms

One of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's regulation proposals that was meant to grab segments of the crypto space under the agency's jurisdiction had sought to expand what trading venues it believes need to register in a way that included digital assets businesses, and Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda is looking to reverse that effort.

The rule has been years in the making and is waiting to be finalized at the agency, but Uyeda has asked staff at the SEC to put the brakes on that.

"In my view, it was a mistake for the commission to link together regulation of the Treasury markets with a heavy-handed attempt to tamp down the crypto market," he said in remarks set for delivery on Monday to the Institute of International Bankers in Washington. "In light of the significant negative public comment received on the definition of exchange with respect to crypto, I have asked SEC staff for options on abandoning that part of the proposal."

Read More: U.S. SEC Out-of-Bounds in Dragging DeFi Into Proposed Exchange Rule, Industry Says

The new way the agency had sought to identify exchanges under its jurisdiction was to say in included certain "communications protocols," but those were sufficiently identified, and the resulting proposal "would have picked up various protocols used with respect to crypto assets," Uyeda said.

The rule proposal had been among several made under the tenure of former chair Gary Gensler, whose crypto work has been targeted by the new leadership elevated by President Donald Trump.