The end of the SEC’s regulate-by-enforcement strategy will be an improvement, however it shakes out, Howard Fischer and Liberty McAteer write in a guest commentary.

Once upon a time, when a crypto executive made headlines for a trip to Washington, it typically was because they were suiting up to give Congress their well-prepared testimony on the digital-asset industry.

The crypto business — from top executives to individual holders — likes to think that it provided the margin of victory in Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the November presidential election. Trump of course courted crypto for votes and money and promised a lighter regulatory touch than the enforcement crackdown imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission chief Gary Gensler.