Former SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda Says Agency Dropped Crypto Cases to Prepare for 180-Degree Policy Shift
Quick Look
Former SEC acting chair Mark Uyeda stated the agency dropped civil cases against cryptocurrency companies like Kraken, Ripple, and Coinbase in early 2025 to avoid undermining its credibility while preparing a major policy reversal, citing concerns that litigating under prior administration authorizations would conflict with planned rulemaking changes.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Mark Uyeda served as acting SEC chair from January to April 2025 following the resignation of Gary Gensler, who stepped down the day Donald Trump took office after promising to fire Gensler 'on day one'. Uyeda has been an SEC commissioner since 2022.
Mark Uyeda, who served as acting chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before Paul Atkins’s confirmation, said the agency dropped civil cases against cryptocurrency companies filed under the previous administration because it was preparing a “180-degree change” in rulemaking.
In a Wednesday panel at the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy’s Financial Markets Quality Conference, Uyeda said the SEC dropped cases involving crypto companies in early 2025 as it could have hurt the agency’s credibility in arguing positions in court contrary to its planned policy changes. Uyeda argued that there had been “significant concerns” that the cases against crypto companies were “justifiable under law.”
“I’m not about to have our litigators, even though they’re having cases that were authorized under the prior administration, stand up in court and have a commission interpretation be issued that is a 180-degree change from what they’d been arguing for that court,” said the commissioner. “I think that hurts [our] credibility as an agency.”
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Source: Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy
Under Uyeda, who was acting SEC chair from January to April 2025, the commission dropped cases filed against Kraken, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and others in what many critics characterized as payback for the industry’s support of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. Trump had promised to fire former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, under whom many of the cases were filed, “on day one” if elected. Gensler resigned the day Trump took office.
Uyeda has been a commissioner at the SEC since 2022 and currently serves at the agency’s leadership alongside Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce. With Peirce’s departure expected in November, the agency will have only two of its five members on its leadership panel, and Trump has not announced any nominations for potential replacements.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The SEC will issue new guidance or rules providing clearer regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrency offerings and exchanges.
Likely · Within months
Legal challenges to the SEC's dropped cases may arise if courts view the dismissals as arbitrary or politically motivated.
Possible · Within months
Open Questions
- What specific rule changes constitute the '180-degree change' in SEC crypto policy?
- Will the SEC refile any of the dropped cases under the new regulatory framework?
- How will the reduced SEC commissioner count affect decision-making capacity?
- What criteria will the SEC use to determine which crypto cases to pursue going forward?
