Donald Trump

President Donald Trump

In January 2025 Gary Gensler stepped down as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amid the inauguration of President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Many in the crypto industry had heavily criticized the former SEC chair for his approach to digital asset regulation and enforcement. Gensler’s position on cryptocurrencies likely contributed to companies like Ripple Labs <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ripple-brad-garlinghouse-60-minutes-xrp-security" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">funding political action committees</a> (PACs) and backing many candidates in the 2024 US elections who had expressed views favorable to the industry and opposing those who didn’t.Shortly after Gensler’s resignation, Trump appointed SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the agency. What followed was a complete about-face of SEC policy on digital assets under Gensler, with the dismissal of many yearslong investigations and enforcement actions and the restructuring of the agency’s leadership to include only Republicans.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2 id="dismissing-crypto-investigations-and-lawsuits">Dismissing crypto investigations and lawsuits</h2>In February, just over a month after Uyeda assumed control of the SEC under Trump, the agency announced that it would <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-agrees-to-drop-lawsuit-against-coinbase" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">drop a civil enforcement action</a> against Coinbase, initially filed in 2023. The case would be the first of many the SEC would drop against crypto companies, some of which like Coinbase that had contributed to PACs that supported pro-crypto candidates.&nbsp;Following the Coinbase case, the SEC <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-enforcement-division-closes-investigation-robinhood-crypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ended investigations into Robinhood Crypto</a> and Uniswap Labs. One of the agency’s most significant policy changes, however, occurred in March when Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the SEC would <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-drop-appeal-ripple-ceo-garlinghouse" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">drop its appeal</a> stemming from a 2020 enforcement action against the payments company.&nbsp;&nbsp;Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-crypto-cases-dismissed-donald-trump-united-states-consensys-joe-lubin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SEC crypto cases will be ‘dismissed or settled’ under Trump: Consensys CEO</a>More dismissals followed in the months under Uyeda and after Trump’s <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/paul-atkins-sec-donald-trump-senate-banking-vote" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">pick to chair the agency</a>, Paul Atkins, was confirmed by the Senate in April. Many lawmakers <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-lawmakers-sec-justin-sun-case" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">questioned whether the agency</a> had dropped the actions as a result of Trump’s close ties to the crypto industry.&nbsp;The president and his family have backed the crypto company World Liberty Financial, which launched its own stablecoin amid consideration of crypto legislation in the US Congress. Trump also has his own memecoin, Official Trump (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/maga-price-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TRUMP</a>), and his sons launched American Bitcoin, a crypto mining venture.Some estimates suggested that the president and his family had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2025/06/05/this-is-how-much-trump-has-made-from-crypto-so-far/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">profited</a> by more than $1 billion from their crypto businesses as of June 2025.<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hDJuU6iH0dE?start="></iframe><h2 id="sec-holds-crypto-roundtables-awaits-regulation-clarity">SEC holds crypto roundtables, awaits regulation clarity</h2>In 2025, the SEC held a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-hold-privacy-financial-surveillance-roundtable-december" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">series of crypto roundtables</a> bringing together industry, legal and policy experts. The discussions covered topics including financial privacy, digital asset custody, tokenization and decentralized finance, as the agency sought input on how securities laws should apply to the sector.However, many of the points SEC officials discussed could be moot amid members of the US Congress working to pass a comprehensive crypto structure bill. The bill, called the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, is intended to establish clear guidelines under which financial regulators including the SEC will operate.The bill passed the House of Representatives in July, but has been delayed in the Senate and awaits passage in the banking and agriculture committees. Although members of the Banking Committee had been scheduled to consider a markup on the bill on Thursday, the event was delayed after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pulled his support for the legislation.<h2 id="all-democratic-commissioners-depart-the-sec">All Democratic commissioners depart the SEC</h2>Gensler and former SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga were among the first to <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/turnover-sec-continues-lizarraga-announces-january-exit" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">leave the agency</a> in January 2025 amid Trump’s inauguration, leaving Caroline Crenshaw as the body’s sole Democratic commissioner.For months, Crenshaw remained the only Democratic representation in the SEC’s leadership and its only crypto skeptic. She <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-republican-pro-crypto-rulemaking-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">left the agency</a> in January 2026 after serving 18 months beyond the official end of her term. At the time of publication, Trump had not announced any plans to nominate additional commissioners to maintain its bipartisan balance.After leaving public office, Gensler returned to the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he is a professor of finance and practice of global economics and management. He <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/gary-gensler-crypto-enforcement-sec-changes" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">continues to speak publicly</a> and give interviews about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) being “speculative” assets.&nbsp;&nbsp;Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/how-crypto-laws-changed-2025-further-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026</a>

One year after Gary Gensler’s exit, SEC’s crypto playbook looks very different

Table of Contents

Cointelegraph

Other articles published on Jan 19, 2026

uDegen: The Next Utility Layer of the Utopia Ecosystem

Cardone Capital Ramps Up BTC Plan With $10M Add, Saylor Watching

Ethereum hits new 2.8M daily transaction record as retail returns for low fees

Spur Protocol Daily Quiz Answer 20 January 2026: Earn Rewards

Federal Reserve Chair Nomination Stakes: Warsh Surges Ahead

What Is Pi Wallet: Explore How It Works, How to Get Started, and More

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!