Ripple CEO: Atkins’ SEC clarity may boost U.S. crypto

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on April 20 that clearer oversight from new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, reduced compliance burdens and a proposed “innovation exemption” could help U.S. crypto markets grow. He linked the change in tone at the SEC to stronger investor protections and renewed confidence among market participants.

Atkins has publicly reframed the agency’s approach to digital assets, emphasizing clarity, capital formation and support for blockchain-based finance. He has criticized the SEC’s prior heavy reliance on enforcement and said the market faced years without workable compliance pathways. Atkins named digital assets a top policy priority for 2026.

On April 21 Atkins outlined steps toward a more formal regulatory framework, saying the agency intends to provide clearer oversight, reduce certain compliance requirements and coordinate more closely with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He described an “innovation exemption” designed to allow limited, compliant on-chain trading of tokenized securities while the SEC develops permanent rules.

Garlinghouse contrasted Atkins’ approach with the prior chair’s enforcement focus. Posting on social platform X, he wrote: “By comparison, Paul Atkins is a breath of fresh air and sanity. He is a model of what leadership at the SEC should look like… he’s focusing on what matters – protecting investors and fostering innovations that help those investors and the markets.” He added, “The SEC’s first mission is to protect investors. Under Gary Gensler, the SEC clearly lost its way. He declared war on a technology. It was an unlawful power grab… and the courts said as much.”

The SEC’s shifting posture follows a court ruling in Ripple v. SEC, filed in December 2020 and resolved in August 2025. The court found that programmatic sales of XRP on exchanges were not securities transactions, while certain direct institutional sales violated securities laws. Ripple faced an initial penalty of $125 million, later reduced to $50 million; both parties withdrew appeals to close the case.

Industry executives have argued that clearer rules and lighter compliance obligations would make U.S. markets more attractive for crypto projects and investment. Garlinghouse and other leaders say predictable regulatory pathways could encourage innovation and longer-term capital commitments in the United States.

Atkins has emphasized coordination with the CFTC and other regulators as the SEC works to build the new framework. The chairman’s statements and the proposed measures follow years of regulatory uncertainty for many digital-asset firms and come after legal clarifications about how tokens and token sales are treated under securities law.