SEC Commissioner Uyeda supports Trump’s plan to crack down on crypto fraud

Republican SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda wants to help president-elect Donald Trump fulfill his promise to end the so-called crypto war of the Biden Administration, FOX Business has learned.

Uyeda, who has served on the commission since 2022 and is likely to become acting chairman when Trump takes office in January, tells FOX Business that one way forward for the agency under Trump will be to impose new enforcement measures on firms that fail to register. until there are clear rules of the road in place.

“The Commission’s war on crypto must end, including crypto-only enforcement actions based on failure to register without allegations of fraud or harm,” he said. “President Trump and the American voters have sent a clear message. Starting in 2025, the role of the SEC is to carry out that mandate.”

Uyeda’s statement coincides with Trump’s campaign promise to end the Biden Administration’s war on crypto under current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has brought more than 100 enforcement actions against the industry in the past three years. Many of those cases involved legal misconduct, including fraud and money laundering, such as the one against Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed founder of the FTX exchange.

But others involve more prosaic violations, such as the high-profile lawsuits against Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Consensys and Cumberland DRW, filed because of Gensler’s belief that the firms were engaging in unregistered securities sales.

It’s unclear what the moratorium on all new enforcement actions for failure to register with the commission will mean for companies that are in active litigation over the issue, such as Coinbase and Ripple. However, such a commission mandate would encourage judges to consider the organization’s new position in their courts.

Gensler’s position—that all crypto tokens except bitcoin and ether are securities under the SEC’s jurisdiction—has faced strong opposition from the crypto industry, its legislative lobbyists and many members of Congress. It has also drawn heavy criticism from fellow commissioners such as Uyeda and Hester Peirce, who have championed a more transparent approach to regulation, including creating clear guidelines for digital goods and working directly with industry stakeholders.

Although Trump has vowed to “fire” Gensler on his first day in office, he has the power to strip him of the chairmanship. If he wanted, Gensler could continue as commissioner until his term expires in June 2026, and some have speculated that he might choose to do so as a way to interfere with Trump’s policy decisions. Trump is likely to nominate Uyeda to lead the agency, at least until he names a new chairman.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, US, Saturday, July 27, 2024. Trump said he will ask the government to create a large Bitcoin reserve if he returns to the White House with a bid. to (Photographer: Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Peirce’s term expires in June 2025 and sources tell FOX Business that he has privately indicated he does not want to become chairman. Instead, these sources say, he is interested in leading an internal “crypto army”.

It is not yet clear what the working group will do or what it will look like, but Peirce, who has earned the name “Crypto Mom” ​​​​because of his good ideas in the industry, has been the promoter of the idea of ​​working directly with the industry to create a complete system. frame.

Hester Peirce, commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, during the Permissionless II event in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 11, 2023. (Thomas Allison/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Uyeda has been very critical of the way the organization has dealt with the control of digital assets. Last month, he made headlines following an appearance on FOX Business where he described the agency’s policies and approach to crypto as “a disaster for the entire industry.”

“We have been sending this ‘policy by force,’ we have done nothing to provide guidance on it,” he said.