Paul Atkins, the new chairperson of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), said on Monday that "this is a new era for the SEC" in which policymaking will no longer rely on ad hoc enforcement actions, but will use existing powers to make rules, interpretations and exemptions to set appropriate standards for market participants. Mr. Atkins criticised Gary Gensler, his predecessor, saying the SEC had taken an ostrich approach in the past - perhaps hoping that cryptocurrencies would disappear on their own. Atkins also revealed that the SEC may update its escrow rules to allow self-escrow under certain conditions and explore whether to offer conditional exemptions to those who want to launch new products and services.