Mark Ueda, who served as Acting Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before Paul Atkins was confirmed, said that the agency had discontinued civil cases against cryptocurrency companies brought during the previous administration, because it was preparing a “180-degree turn” in rulemaking.
At a panel discussion held on Wednesday as part of the conference on the quality of financial markets by the Center for Financial Markets and Policy Psarosa, Uyeda said that the SEC had dropped cases involving crypto companies in early 2025 because they could harm the agency’s trust when, in court, they argued positions that conflicted with the planned changes to its policy. Uyeda noted that there were “serious concerns” that the cases against crypto companies were “legally well-founded.”
“I’m not going to allow our lawyers, even if they handle cases sanctioned by the previous administration, to appear in court and have the commission issue an interpretation that completely changes the position—by 180 degrees compared to what they argued for in that court,” the commissioner said. “I think this harms [our] trust in the agency.”
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Source: Center for Financial Markets and Policy Psarosa
Under Uyeda, who served as acting chair of the SEC from January to April 2025, the commission dropped cases brought against Kraken, Ripple Labs, Coinbase and other companies—many critics viewed this as payback for the industry’s support of Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Trump promised to fire the former SEC chair Gary Gensler, under whom many of these cases were brought, “on day one” after taking office. Gensler resigned on the day Trump assumed the presidency.
Uyeda has been an SEC commissioner since 2022 and currently sits on the agency’s leadership team together with Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce. It is expected that after Peirce leaves in November, only two of the five members will remain on the agency’s governing commission, and Trump has not announced nominations for potential replacements.
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