SEC Official Details Steps to Reverse Biden Crypto Enforcement

A senior SEC official has publicly characterized the Biden administration’s crypto strategy as an effort to prevent digital assets from gaining a foothold in the United States. The Trump-era SEC, the official said, has taken deliberate steps to dismantle that approach and replace it with something friendlier to the industry.

Under the Biden administration, the SEC launched dozens of enforcement actions against major crypto firms. Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken all found themselves in the agency’s crosshairs, facing lawsuits that carried existential implications for their US operations.

The Trump SEC has dismissed several of those high-profile cases, replacing the litigation campaign with what officials describe as a more calibrated approach focused on clear instances of fraud rather than broad jurisdictional claims.

One of the earliest and most consequential moves was the rescission of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, known as SAB 121. That guidance required any financial institution custodying digital assets to record them as liabilities on its balance sheet. In practical terms, it made crypto custody so capital-intensive that most banks simply refused to touch it.

In early 2025, the agency established a Crypto Task Force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. The task force was designed to convert the SEC’s engagement with digital asset companies from an adversarial posture into something closer to a dialogue.

Then in July 2025, Chair Paul Atkins announced “Project Crypto,” an initiative aimed at modernizing securities rules for on-chain market activities.

On August 18, 2026, the SEC proposed a new regulatory framework specifically designed to clarify how crypto asset issuers and market participants fit under federal securities laws. Rather than trying to force digital assets into categories designed for stocks and bonds, the proposal attempts to create definitions that actually reflect how these markets work.

SEC officials have framed much of this effort as a “reshoring” strategy. The argument is straightforward: aggressive enforcement during the Biden years didn’t eliminate crypto activity, it just pushed it to jurisdictions with lighter regulatory touch. Dubai, Singapore, and the European Union all absorbed companies and talent that might otherwise have stayed in the US.

Multiple major crypto firms publicly relocated operations or incorporated overseas entities during 2023 and 2024, citing regulatory uncertainty in the US as a primary driver. The effect was visible in the flow of capital and talent tracked by industry analysts, who noted that the US share of global crypto exchange volume fell sharply over that period.

The dismissal of cases against firms like Coinbase has already reduced the litigation overhang that weighed on those companies’ operations and stock prices. Coinbase shares rose after the SEC dropped its lawsuit, and the company has since expanded its domestic product offerings.

SAB 121 was guidance, not law. Its rescission was an administrative act that a future SEC chair could reverse. The Crypto Task Force exists at the pleasure of the current leadership. Even the proposed regulatory framework remains a proposal subject to the standard rulemaking process and potential legal challenges.

Industry leaders have been vocal about this vulnerability. While the immediate regulatory environment has improved dramatically, the reforms lack the legislative foundation that would make them durable across administrations. Congress has considered several crypto market structure bills, but none has crossed the finish line with the kind of bipartisan support that would insulate the rules from partisan swings.

“The reforms are welcome, but they rest on a single election cycle,” one exchange executive said. “Without legislation, the next administration could reverse everything with a few memos.”

For now, the SEC’s message is clear: the agency is no longer in the business of trying to block crypto from the US. Whether that posture lasts will depend on the outcome of the 2028 election and the composition of the next Congress.