As someone who has spent years on the defense side of SEC enforcement matters, I find Goal 2 the most consequential part of this draft plan — particularly the language about “returning enforcement approach to Congress’ original intent” and moving away from “ad hoc enforcement actions.”
Hopefully, this signals a potential shift back toward enforcement grounded in clear violations of established rules (fraud, manipulation) rather than novel theories applied retroactively to conduct that wasn’t clearly prohibited at the time. However, this is not the first time that the SEC has stated its intent to stop regulation by enforcement, which is entirely unfair to the industry. But if implemented consistently, this could reduce the “regulation by enforcement” dynamic that has made compliance so unpredictable for market participants in recent years — especially in areas like digital assets, where firms have often had to guess at the rules through settlement terms rather than rulemaking.
That said, a few things worth watching:
- A retrospective review of existing rules sounds promising, but the devil is in the scope and timeline. Will this actually lead to rule amendments, or just a report that sits on a shelf?
- The push for a “rational, coherent, and principled approach” to digital assets is welcome, but the industry has heard similar commitments before. The proof will be in actual rulemaking, not just strategic plan language.
- Increased “stakeholder engagement” is good in theory, but we will need to see whether this translates into more meaningful pre-enforcement dialogue (e.g., Wells process improvements) or remains largely symbolic.
Overall, this is a plan that — if followed through — could meaningfully change the enforcement posture practitioners have grown accustomed to. I’d encourage anyone with experience navigating SEC investigations to submit comments by the July 2 deadline, particularly on the administrative law framework review, which could have real implications for how enforcement actions are litigated going forward.
-Mark J. Astarita
Last updated on June 12th, 2026
