The prospect of a change in the US government's attitude towards the cryptocurrency industry became apparent during the election campaign last year. At that time, presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he intended to give up the fight against the industry, which at that time the Biden administration was doing. He eventually realized his promise, and as a result, the SEC also got a chairman who supports the coin industry. Companies are more eager than ever to launch products based on digital assets.
What's next for cryptocurrencies
In the second half of April, Paul Atkins officially became chairman of the SEC and even named digital assets the main priority in his activities.
Accordingly, the SEC now has a leader who can dictate the vector of the regulator's activities and at the same time take responsibility for various decisions.
Certainly, investment funds are feeling the change in the SEC's approach: at least since the new U.S. president took office, the regulator has canceled several proceedings against major cryptocurrency companies.
Therefore, they are now actively filing to launch new instruments based on digital assets. The number of mentions of cryptocurrencies in filings with the Commission reached an all-time high in April at 786. At the same time, mentions of stablecoins have more than doubled in recent months.
The growth of the indicator turned out to be massive. In particular, the word "cryptocurrency" in official documents in April was encountered 38 percent more often than in March - then the figure reached 569 references. At the same time, the average number of mentions of this word from January 2024 to March 2025 was 457.
According to analysts, the sharp rise in mentions of digital assets indicates that federal agencies are devoting more attention and resources to crypto as they await new rules for dealing with the coin industry and upcoming guidance from the SEC.
That is, they expect the regulator to bring clarity to interactions with the crypto sphere, and this will enable them to create appropriate products and allow customers to interact with them.
The same trend is relevant for stablecoins. Between January 2024 and January 2025, the term was mentioned an average of 48 times per month in SEC filings. From February through April 2025, however, the average rose to 103.
Specifically, the number of mentions of staples totaled 81 times in February, 124 times in March and another 104 times in April.
According to experts, this trend indicates a renewed interest of regulators in asset reservation standards and consumer protection. In addition, if the interaction with this category of tokens is formalized, the adoption of staples will grow both at the corporate and retail level.
How the SEC hurt crypto
As mentioned above, the SEC stopped investigating many cryptocurrency companies after Donald Trump took office. For example, in late April, the SEC dismissed claims to the PYUSD stablecoin from PayPal, the activity with which was studied by the regulator since November 2023.
Also on the list of dismissed cases were Binance, Coinbase, Uniswap and other major industry players. Here's their full list.
According to Devin Finzer, head of the popular NFT platform OpenSea, the end of enforcement actions against popular cryptocurrency companies indicates a change of trend in the regulation of digital assets. That said, the approach to governing the industry through enforcement actions has somehow left the field with persistent "regulatory uncertainty," notes Cointelegraph.
Under the Biden administration, Finzer said, the SEC has unfairly targeted good players within the coin industry. And OpenSea was also on that list - here's a quote from the manager.
There are many types of digital assets, and I think it's obvious that you can't lump them all under one umbrella. I think the approach that the previous SEC leadership took was too generalized.
Recall that in 2024, the Securities Commission sent the OpenSea platform the so-called Wells Notice, which spoke of the beginning of an investigation into the company's activities. According to the regulator's version, the platform served as an exchange for unregistered securities, which was a typical SEC complaint against crypto under Gary Gensler.
At the time, Finzer criticized the SEC's approach, calling it regulation through coercion. In addition, he said that OpenSea is ready to fight for normalization of the authorities' attitude to the blockchain industry.
It seems that this period has now arrived. The OpenSea executive now expects an adequate and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets. He continues.
Good cryptocurrency regulation must strike a balance between protecting consumers and preserving the opportunity for innovation. This isn't a "one-size-fits-all" challenge, is it?
Despite the sharp decline in trading volumes with NFT, Finzer calls the industry thriving. He says new innovations and applications are emerging - especially in gaming and art collecting.
However, OpenSea is trying to diversify the business and is looking for other asset options for bidding.
For the first time in the history of the internet, people have a real opportunity to own digital objects. You can move them freely between different applications and take them anywhere on the internet - and that's a really powerful thing.
The growing number of references to cryptocurrencies in SEC documents confirms a turnaround in the regulation of the industry. The new approach promises not only to reduce pressure on developers, but also to open up opportunities to launch legal products. The separate interest of regulators in stablecoins could be the key to their mass adoption..
