The SEC’s new chair is leading a significant shift towards crypto innovation, vowing to provide much-needed regulatory clarity to facilitate blockchain transformation.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins made his inaugural address since being sworn in at the third Crypto Task Force roundtable on April 25 in Washington, D.C. Thanking his colleagues and SEC staff for their warm reception, Atkins reaffirmed his key priorities, saying:
I am eager to tackle long festering issues, such as regulatory treatment of digital assets and distributed ledger technologies.
SEC Chair Outlines Bold New Direction for Crypto Oversight at Third Task Force Roundtable
Atkins lauded Commissioner Hester Peirce’s leadership on digital asset policy, stating, “Commissioner Peirce is the right person to develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets.” Peirce heads the Crypto Task Force, guiding its initiatives and regulatory strategy for digital assets. He also commended the panelists for their expertise and dedication to helping the agency craft more effective regulations.
Atkins emphasized the transformative potential of blockchain innovation and outlined improvements to the financial system. He projected significant benefits, noting that this market advancement will bring huge gains in efficiency, cost savings, transparency, and risk reduction. The new SEC chair also made additional remarks:
Market participants engaging with this technology deserve clear regulatory rules of the road. Innovation has been stifled for the last several years due to market and regulatory uncertainty that unfortunately the SEC has fostered.
Looking ahead, he stressed the need for teamwork across the government. He said, “We will work with people in the market and partner with others in President Trump’s team and Congress to create clear and practical rules for crypto assets.”
During the roundtable, participants focused significant attention on the practical challenges SEC registrants face when attempting to custody digital assets under existing federal securities regulations. Atkins invited attendees to evaluate whether revisions to custody requirements under the Exchange Act, Advisers Act, or Investment Company Act should address the unique characteristics of crypto assets.He questioned the continued viability of the “special purpose broker-dealer” model and whether developers should create a new broker-dealer structure specifically for crypto assets. Drawing upon marketplace signals, Atkins acknowledged that the “current framework badly needs attention” and urged attendees to provide essential input for forming future regulations.
