Days after abandoning several high-profile enforcement cases, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will host its second crypto regulation roundtable on April 11.
The event, titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading,” will be held at SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. Registration is required for in-person attendance, but the session will be live-streamed without registration on SEC.gov.
This roundtable follows a series of abrupt withdrawals from enforcement actions by the agency, sparking speculation about a policy reversal. Coinbase, Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland all saw their legal battles with the SEC dropped.
The agency also backed off from threatened actions against Robinhood, Uniswap, and OpenSea. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse confirmed in a recent CNBC interview that the SEC abandoned its planned appeal in its legal dispute with Ripple Labs.
April Meeting Signals Shift in Enforcement Strategy
The Crypto Task Force, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, is overseeing the roundtable as part of an ongoing series to assess the securities law implications of digital assets. The event serves as both a stakeholder outreach forum and a regulatory review process.
The SEC confirmed the roundtable date via its official X account, stating, “REMINDER: Our second roundtable on crypto regulation is next week (4/11).”
The roundtable will include two core sessions. From 1:20 to 3:00 p.m., Goodwin Procter’s Nicholas Losurdo will moderate a panel featuring ten industry leaders.
These include Christine Parlour of Berkeley, Austin Reid of FalconX, Richard Johnson of Texture Capital, Katherine Minarik of Uniswap, Gregory Tusar of Coinbase, Tyler Gellasch of Healthy Markets, Dave Lauer of Urvin Finance, Chelsea Pizzola of Cumberland DRW, and Jon Herrick of the New York Stock Exchange.
A 30-minute break will follow, and the final session, “Regulatory Direction,” will take place from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
Panel Brings Together Industry and Legal Leaders
The diverse group of speakers reflects the agency’s effort to engage with key figures across finance, academia, legal counsel, and decentralized platforms. Participants include legal experts with experience in securities litigation, product strategists from centralized exchanges, and researchers focused on decentralized finance.
Christine Parlour, Chair of Finance and Accounting at UC Berkeley, will bring insights from her research on blockchain and decentralized finance. Coinbase executive Gregory Tusar and Uniswap Labs Chief Legal Officer Katherine Minarik will provide perspectives from both centralized and decentralized trading platforms.
Richard Johnson, founder of Texture Capital, brings regulatory experience as a FINRA member and a background in digital securities. Dave Lauer, co-founder of Urvin Finance and a frequent Senate Banking Committee witness, joins the panel alongside Tyler Gellasch of Healthy Markets, a former Senate counsel and Dodd-Frank Act drafter.
Leadership Transition Adds Pressure to Outcomes
The roundtable takes place as new SEC leadership may shape future regulatory frameworks. Paul Atkins was recently approved by the Senate Banking Committee as SEC chairman with a narrow 13–11 vote. His appointment adds urgency to the meeting’s outcomes, as stakeholders seek clarity amid a backdrop of policy uncertainty.
A previous meeting on March 21 drew industry attention for its discussions on how securities laws apply to tokens and digital assets. The April session is expected to continue that examination, with attendees encouraged to submit suggestions via note cards available in the lobby.
