Gensler repeatedly called for crypto tokens, including meme coins, to be treated as securities, and told crypto service providers to proactively register with the SEC.

With the dismissal of crypto investigations and enforcement actions and a staff memo on meme coins, the agency is taking a sharply different approach than the previous administration.

Under Gary Gensler, who served as S.E.C. chair under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the regulator had used that same Supreme Court case to argue that most digital assets are securities and subject ...