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On Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will kick off a series of public roundtables under the banner “Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity,” aiming to reassess crypto regulations in the United States.

The first session, How We Got Here and How We Get Out – Defining Security Status, takes place on March 21 and will be open to the public and the crypto community. The event will delve into the longstanding debate about whether cryptocurrencies are classified as securities or commodities.

To address the question, the event will feature a roundtable of legal and fintech experts discussing crypto regulation, including Miles Jennings, General Counsel at Andreessen Horowitz's crypto division, who concentrates on crypto policy and law; Collins Belton, Managing Partner at Brookwood P.C., who specializes in advising crypto enterprises; and Dr. Chris Brummer from Georgetown Law, a scholar in digital assets law, among others.

Under the Trump administration, many in the industry hope that digital assets will fall under the purview of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which has taken a lighter enforcement approach compared to the SEC under former chair Gary Gensler. During Gensler’s tenure, the SEC pursued 125 enforcement actions against the crypto industry, though that number declined by 30% in his final year, according to Cornerstone Research. In contrast to this, the CFTC only initiated 58 enforcement actions last year, only some of which targeted crypto firms. While it remains to be seen if the CFTC will expand its crypto ambit, earlier this month, the CFTC hosted its inaugural Crypto CEO Forum and discussed potential plans to pilot a crypto program on tokenized non-cash collateral, indicating a growing interest in the space.

“The roundtables are a key part of our engagement with the public,” said SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce. “I look forward to drawing on their expertise to shape a workable regulatory framework for crypto.”

The series comes amid a shift in SEC enforcement following Gensler’s departure. The SEC has dropped a wave of lawsuits and investigations into major crypto firms, including Coinbase, OpenSea, Uniswap Labs, Robinhood, and Kraken.