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Julia Smith
Author
Julia Smith
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The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will now send out notices to organizations ahead of any potential enforcement actions, SEC Chair Paul Atkins told the Financial Times in a new interview published on Monday.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins Vows Notices Ahead Of Enforcement
According to the September 15 report, the SEC plans to warn companies of technical violations via a notice in lieu of hitting them with enforcement actions straight out of the gate.
“You can’t just suddenly come and bash down their door and say uh-uh, we caught you, you’re doing something bad, and it’s a technical violation,” Atkins said.
The SEC commissioner also criticized the agency’s previous regulation-by-enforcement approach to the blockchain sector, calling it a “shoot first and ask questions later” strategy.
“I think a lot of people rightly criticized the SEC,” he added. “Especially in more recent years, it was not grounded in precedent or predictability.”
The SEC Shifts Away From Regulation-By-Enforcement
News of Atkins’ latest interview comes amid ongoing changes at the SEC in a shift away from its previous leadership under former SEC chair Gary Gensler.
Just last week, the agency’s newly established Crypto Task Force announced that it will host a key hearing on financial privacy and surveillance on October 17.
“Understanding recent developments in privacy-protecting tools will assist the SEC and other financial regulators as we work on policy solutions in the crypto space,” said SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce.
The news came just days after the regulatory agency unveiled its Cross-Border Task Force in a bid to combat fraud and market manipulation conducted by entities outside the U.S.
“This new task force will consolidate SEC investigative efforts and allow the SEC to use every available tool to combat transnational fraud,” SEC Chair Paul Atkins said in a recent statement.
With Atkins’ commitment to establishing a more balanced SEC, the agency may be set to adopt a crypto-friendly approach to digital assets.
