The US Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled a roster of leaders from major US cryptocurrency and finance firms who will participate in a roundtable discussion focused on the regulation of crypto trading.
On April 7, the agency announced that this session, scheduled for April 11, will address the management of crypto trading regulations, aptly titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading.”
This will mark the second session in a series centered on cryptocurrency, spearheaded by its newly established Crypto Task Force.
Among the participants are Katherine Minarik, chief legal officer of Uniswap Labs; Chelsea Pizzola, associate general counsel at Cumberland DRW; and Gregory Tusar, vice president of institutional products at Coinbase—all of which had previously been under regulatory scrutiny.
During the Biden administration, the SEC initiated lawsuits against Cumberland DRW in October and Coinbase in June 2023 for alleged violations of securities laws, although both cases were dismissed this year after the transition to the Trump administration.
Additionally, an investigation into Uniswap Labs for potential enforcement actions was opened in April 2024 but concluded in February without any further action.
Other notable participants in the roundtable include Jon Herrick, product chief at the New York Stock Exchange; Austin Reid, business lead at crypto brokerage FalconX; Richard Johnson, CEO of security tokenization firm Texture Capital; and Christine Parlour, finance chair at the University of California, Berkeley.
Also attending are Dave Lauer, co-founder of the advocacy group We the Investors, and Tyler Gellasch, CEO of the nonprofit Healthy Markets Association, with the discussion moderated by Nicholas Losurdo, a partner at law firm Goodwin Procter.
Representing the SEC will be acting chair Mark Uyeda, Richard Gabbert, chief of staff for the Crypto Task Force, and Commissioners Caroline Crenshaw and Hester Peirce.
This roundtable is part of a crypto-focused dialogue series termed “Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity,” which consists of five sessions. The inaugural discussion occurred on March 21, addressing the legal status of cryptocurrency, while upcoming topics will include custody, tokenization, and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Uyeda Calls for Review of SEC Staff Crypto Statements
The roundtables are part of the SEC’s efforts, under President Trump, to reshape its approach to overseeing the cryptocurrency sector, with a recent initiative to review employees’ comments on crypto for potential amendments or retractions.
In a statement shared on April 5, Uyeda indicated his engagement in reviewing seven staff statements, five of which pertain to cryptocurrency, in light of Trump’s deregulation executive order and suggestions from the Department of Government Efficiency.
“The goal of this review is to pinpoint staff statements that may need to be altered or rescinded in accordance with the agency’s existing priorities,” Uyeda remarked.
The first item on his list involves an April 2019 assessment from the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, discussing how crypto sales could qualify as investment contracts under the Howey test—a rationale the SEC previously leveraged to take legal action against several crypto firms.
Additionally, two statements from the Division of Investment Management are under scrutiny: one from May 2021 urging investors to consider risks associated with funds linked to Bitcoin futures, and another from November 2020 soliciting feedback on the qualifications of state-chartered banks as custodians.
Also under review is a December 2022 statement from the Division of Corporation Finance that recommended SEC-regulated entities assess their disclosures to determine if recent bankruptcies and failures of various crypto companies impacted their operations.
Finally, review will extend to a Division of Examinations alert from February 2021, which noted that certain activities related to the offer, sale, and trading of digital assets deemed securities carry unique risks to investors.