More than 700 employees of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have resigned in recent weeks amid a wave of federal layoffs and crypto reforms supported by U.S. President Trump. The resignation wave has greatly raised expectations of loose regulation among digital asset investors and said the event could be a regulatory turning point for the crypto industry.
According to a report by Reuters, citing five anonymous sources, the wave of resignations was originally intended to be a voluntary resignation program aimed at matching the size of the U.S. federal government as seen by the Trump administration. Among the resigning groups are several key senior officials and lawyers from the SEC’s enforcement and legal departments. Since late January, more than 700 SEC employees have submitted resignation letters, including more than 150 from the enforcement department alone. Sources also revealed that more than a dozen senior staff have accepted early resignation compensation packages with buyouts.
The voluntary resignation program is part of a broader campaign jointly promoted by Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with the core goal of streamlining the bloated and inefficient U.S. civil service system. Earlier this year, the White House began offering financial incentives to encourage early retirement or voluntary resignation. These incentives expired last Friday, and people familiar with the matter said that the final confirmed number of resignations may be more than 600.
Such a large number of resignations may affect the progress of SEC office affairs, especially since Paul Atkins, the new SEC chairman nominated by Trump, has not yet officially assumed his post. In addition, the SEC is currently facing a number of uncertainties such as restructuring, closing some offices, and adjusting its strategic direction.
This personnel shakeup coincides with the SEC’s major shift in digital asset policy. Driven by the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance, the SEC has begun to withdraw legal actions against several crypto companies. The White House also recently hosted the first cryptocurrency summit and established a new crypto task force led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. The crypto community generally believes that these measures indicate that the United States is about to usher in a more supportive and innovative regulatory environment.
