The arrival of Paul Atkins at the head of the US SEC coincides with an obvious regulatory relaxation towards the cryptocurrency sector, but clearly not an acceleration in crypto ETF approvals. More than 90 are now reportedly awaiting approval.
More than 90 crypto ETFs awaiting approval
The United States is experiencing an unprecedented regulatory awakening in favor of the adoption of the cryptocurrency sector and its many associated innovations. This momentum has been greatly accelerated by President Donald Trump, to the point where one sometimes wonders whether his motivation is more focused on personal enrichment than on genuinely supporting this ecosystem.
In any case, bills such as the GENIUS Act are pushing the boundaries of the traditional monetary sector by introducing the effective use of stablecoins. At the same time, the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, says he wants to protect the cryptocurrency sector from “regulatory excesses.”
This favorable acceleration seems to overlook a large stack of files on the edge of his desk. In fact, no approval has yet been granted for any of the (very) numerous spot crypto ETFs now on a waiting list of more than 90 projects.
A recent overview by ETF specialist James Seyffert for Bloomberg includes the most popular projects, such as Solana (SOL), Ripple’s XRP, and Litecoin (LTC), whose approvals have been imminent for months.
The list goes on, with some fairly traditional projects such as SUI, Aptos (APT), and most recently Chainlink’s LINK. Others, however, are more unlikely, such as Dogecoin (DOGE), the memecoins TRUMP and MELANIA, and BONK.
How can the SEC’s delay be explained?
Why is the US regulatory body so far behind in this area, even though Paul Atkins has been touting his “new era for the SEC” since his arrival last May? It’s difficult to explain in the current context.
However, the large number of filings made by the issuers of these exchange-traded funds could be a first clue. This is particularly true because the multitude of cryptocurrencies selected seems more like an attempt to test the regulatory limits of the new SEC than to actually obtain approvals for all these projects.
Furthermore, during Gary Gensler’s tenure, the approval procedures for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs were carried out in batches to avoid any favoritism towards any particular fund issuer. Will Paul Atkins do the same? And if so, could this be the reason for a possible additional delay in order to review all the pending applications?
According to experts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas, the most obvious reason would be the SEC’s desire to wait for a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies to be put in place before rushing to start the race. This situation also affects other pending applications, such as the addition of a staking option to spot Ethereum ETH.
