On May 19 and 20, 2025, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) Chairman Paul S. Atkins and other senior SEC officials convened in Washington, D.C. for the annual SEC Speaks conference. The Commission looked back at the last four years and outlined its strategic priorities going forward under President Trump’s second administration. The post below focuses on the SEC’s changing approach to enforcement.
Key Takeaways
- The SEC will focus going forward on ensuring that the public has “clear rules of the road” and will work to encourage innovation and capital formation. Chair Atkins and multiple commissioners noted that crypto markets in particular have been languishing at the SEC in limbo for years.
- Expanding investment opportunities for retail investors will be a focus, including opportunities to invest in private funds. Enforcement will also focus on impacts to retail investors, including senior investors (which has typically been a focus of state regulatory authorities), and whether there is an opportunity to return money to investors.
- The current Commission will be more open to outreach and engagement and SEC Staff emphasized a push towards transparency including with respect to penalties.
- Enforcement priorities will focus on traditional core areas of enforcement: insider trading, offering fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty by investment advisers, and accounting and financial disclosure fraud. Private fund enforcement matters will focus on conflicts of interest, illiquidity, and high fees.
- While SEC Staff discussed recent structural changes to the Enforcement Division, with no permanent enforcement director in place, it’s unclear whether more changes are on the horizon. The Enforcement panel noted that it’s “too early to tell” the fate of the specialized units.
From the Chairman
In his opening remarks, Chair Atkins declared it a “new day” at the SEC, signaling commitment to meaningful change for investors and the market. Chair Atkins emphasized the Commission’s longstanding role in fostering financial innovation while upholding investor protection and called for a shift from the Commission’s previous enforcement-driven approaches—particularly in crypto—toward clear guidance,[1] rulemaking, and regulatory certainty to foster innovation.[2] Among his proposals, Atkins suggested allowing the custody and trading of securities and non-securities on a single platform to support a “super app” future; reevaluating policies restricting retail access to private funds; and reviewing the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) to reduce costs and operational risk.
From the Commissioners
- The three other Commissioners’ remarks were largely backwards looking, focusing on the work of the past administration. Commissioners Uyeda and Peirce criticized the approach of the Gensler Commission while Commissioner Crenshaw—the sole Democrat on the Commission—described the current Commission’s approach as a “reckless game of regulatory Jenga.”
- Commissioner Uyeda described the current Commission’s approach as a course correction and criticized past initiatives as attempts to address social issues like climate change and diversity through financial regulation. He noted that the SEC is refocusing on its foundational mission of regulating capital markets, improving engagement with market participants, and prioritizing practical regulatory improvements—particularly in areas like crypto regulation, access to private investments, and reducing barriers for IPOs.
- Commissioner Peirce’s remarks focused on crypto, noting that most existing crypto assets in the market are not securities. She stated that some of these assets, even when sold by fraudsters, are outside of the SEC’s regulatory reach. Commissioner Peirce noted that important work lies ahead for the Commission in terms of access to capital, refocusing on the materiality standard, and permitting the use of modern communication methods—a clear callout to the last administration’s recordkeeping settlements.
- Commissioner Crenshaw criticized the present Commission as chipping away at decades of prior work. As examples, she noted that the Commission has “pushed out” its Staff, diluted and rescinded laws without consideration of public feedback, and embarked on a path of “regulation by non-enforcement” with respect to crypto.
Highlights from Enforcement
- Protecting Vulnerable Populations and Technology-Driven Misconduct: A central theme emphasized by Staff is a sharpened focus on frauds that target retail investors, seniors, and vulnerable communities. This includes affinity frauds, offering scams, and digital asset schemes. The Staff also noted an intent to continue using Fair Funds to return money to harmed investors and to deploy data analytics to detect patterns of misconduct.
- Individual Accountability and Corporate Responsibility: Deputy Director (Enforcement, Southeast) Nekia Jones reiterated that enforcement continues to focus on holding individuals accountable for misconduct, and that culpability and intent are critical factors in charging decisions. Corporate officers must act to prevent or correct violations, not merely respond after the fact. Additionally, SEC Staff noted an intent to tie enforcement actions more clearly to the statutory and regulatory framework in the future, signaling a move away from “creative” legal theories and toward precedent-based legal reasoning.
- Structural Changes and Future of Specialized Units?: Acting Enforcement Director Sam Waldon described the change to four deputy directors for enforcement (representing three regional areas and one reporting line for the specialized units) instead of one. He noted that the Commission had reduced reporting lines to create a unified enforcement program and to ensure that enforcement and exam efforts are consistent, while at the same time confirming its commitment to regional offices. Former Commissioner Gallagher questioned whether there is a process to reconsider the specialized units; both Acting Enforcement Director Waldon and Deputy Director (Enforcement, Specialized Units) Jason Burt noted that it’s too early to predict the fate of the specialized units.
- Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit: The newly renamed Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) is expanding beyond its prior crypto-specific focus to cover a broader range of misconduct involving AI, cybersecurity lapses, and digital asset fraud. CETU will investigate both misrepresentations about the use of AI and novel AI-enabled manipulation, including deepfake scams and trading algorithms designed to exploit automated systems. Staff also made clear that cybersecurity enforcement will focus on disclosure quality, emphasizing that omissions, half-truths, or hypothetical framing of cyber risks may violate disclosure obligations.
- Whistleblower Claims: Enforcement staff noted that there is an intent to expedite the process of awarding or denying claims, and that there will be efforts to reduce submissions from serial and frivolous reporters.
- Emphasis on Self-Reporting and Cooperation: Deputy Director (Enforcement, West) Katherine Zoladz noted that the Commission will reward self-reporting and cooperation, and issues that are fully remediated may result in no referral to enforcement.
- Robust Wells Process: Deputy Director (Enforcement, Northeast) Antonia Apps emphasized that a robust Wells process serves transparency and due process. She expects that SEC Staff will grant meetings with Enforcement Division leadership—meaning the Enforcement Director and/or one of the four deputies—but that counsel will generally not be entitled to multiple meetings and should meet when issues are ripe based on a fully developed record. It remains to be seen how different this approach is in practice from the prior administration’s more restrictive approach.
Conclusion
SEC Speaks 2025 made clear that the Commission is entering a period of strategic recalibration, with a renewed emphasis on regulatory clarity, investor protection, and constructive engagement with market participants. From Chair Atkins’ call for innovation-friendly reforms to SEC Staff’s detailed updates across sectors, the message was consistent: the Commission is shifting toward a more predictable and collaborative regulatory environment.
[1] Last week the Staff of the Division of Trading and Markets issued a set of FAQs that address broker dealer and transfer agent questions on crypto assets. See Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, SEC Division of Trading and Markets, An Incremental Step Along the Journey: The Division of Trading Markets’ Frequently Asked Questions Relating to Crypto Asset Activities and Distributed Ledger Technologies, Securities and Exchange Commission (May 15, 2025), https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-tm-faq-051525.
[2] See also Gibson Dunn Client Alert, SEC Crypto Task Force Hosts Its Inaugural Roundtable on Security Status (Mar. 25, 2025), https://www.gibsondunn.com/sec-crypto-task-force-hosts-its-inaugural-roundtable-on-security-status/.
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