Paul S. Atkins

Rule Changes

Leads the commission that proposed the rule overhaul

The Securities and Exchange Commission's transfer agent rules were written for a world of physical stock certificates and paper ledgers. On September 1, the agency proposed its first major overhaul of that framework in over four decades, explicitly asking how the rules should handle blockchain-based recordkeeping and tokenized securities.

Updated Sep 3

Rule Changes

Leading the agency that handles the muni-market portion of the rollout

For decades, a bank, a fund, and a city government filed financial data to US regulators in formats that could not talk to each other. On June 25, 2026, nine agencies published a joint rule forcing all of them onto one machine-readable system.

Updated Jun 25

Rule Changes

Current chair, appointed 2025

Caroline Crenshaw walked out of the SEC on January 2, 2026, leaving the agency with three commissioners—all Republicans—for the first time in nearly two decades. She was the lone vote against Bitcoin ETFs, the single dissent on 13 crypto approvals, and the industry's most consistent obstacle. Her departure didn't just tilt the commission. It erased the opposition.

Updated May 19

Rule Changes

Appeared for opening remarks at the Dec. 15 roundtable

The SEC spent years telling crypto: "We can't see you, so we can't trust you." Now it's hosting a public, recorded forum on the most explosive question in the space: how much visibility regulators should demand—and how much privacy Americans should keep.

Updated May 15

Rule Changes

Overseeing a more crypto‑permissive but leverage‑constrained ETF regime

In late 2025, SEC staff sent warning letters to nine ETF issuers, including Direxion and ProShares. The letters froze applications for 3x–5x leveraged ETFs tied to single stocks, sectors, and crypto assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The SEC staff cited Rule 18f‑4's value‑at‑risk cap and the requirement that the unleveraged underlying asset be the designated reference portfolio, which established that new ETFs cannot legally target more than 200% exposure.

Updated May 10