One of Trump’s key election promises to appeal to crypto investors was to make the SEC more crypto-friendly and fire Gary Gensler—and these promises have been kept. Since stepping back into the Oval Office, Gensler has gone, a crypto-friendly chair has been appointed, and a new crypto task force has been created inside the SEC.

Overnight, the first roundtable was held by that task force, marking a major shift in tone. For the first time ever, the SEC sat down with people from the crypto industry to talk—not fight. No lawsuits, no threats—just an open conversation about how digital assets should be regulated. This is a big deal after years of heavy-handed enforcement under the previous administration.

The main debate focused on a long-standing issue: what actually counts as a security in crypto? Everyone agreed that Bitcoin isn’t one, as it’s fully decentralised. But when it comes to other tokens, the lines remain blurry. Some, like a16z’s Miles Jennings, argued that crypto needs its own set of rules, calling for a “technology-neutral” approach that recognises how different this space is from traditional stocks. Not everyone was on board, though. John Reed Stark, a former SEC enforcement official and long-time crypto critic, slammed the idea of changing the rules. He said the current securities laws from the 1930s work just fine and accused crypto companies of trying to delay and dodge regulation—arguing that “investors aren’t collectors,” and that the SEC’s job is to protect them.

Behind the scenes, political momentum is shifting too. Several lawsuits filed under the Biden administration are now being paused or dropped, and just the other week, Trump signed an executive order to build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. While there’s still a long road ahead, this first meeting showed that the SEC is finally open to working with the crypto industry instead of treating it like the enemy.

Despite the headlines, the market hasn’t reacted much. Bitcoin remains stuck in its consolidation range after a bit of a nothing day, falling just 0.14% over the last 24 hours.

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