SEC Chair Paul Atkins has acknowledged that the U.S. is ’10 Years Behind’ in crypto regulation and pledges to fast-track crypto progress.
According to him, “The crypto aspect is our job one,” marking it as a priority for the regulatory body.
During the DC Fintech Week event at Amazon HQ on Wednesday, Atkins stated that the SEC intends to build a robust framework to bring back industry participants who may have left the country, enabling innovation to flourish.
“I like to say that we’re the securities and innovation commission now,” he added.
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When asked how regulatory bodies support innovation, Atkins responded that the past approach to the digital asset industry had been somewhat disingenuous, but confirmed the situation has changed.
The SEC is now working full-time on crypto regulation and will introduce an “innovation exemption” to permit experimentation with new ideas.
“We at SEC with respect to our statutes have pretty broad authority for exemptions to be made, and so I think we can be, you know, very forward-leaning in that in order to accommodate new ideas,” he said.
“And if the ideas are not good, the free market reaction would tell.”
He noted that the crypto industry benefits from having pro-crypto executives at the SEC, like “crypto mama,” whose understanding of the space helps the agency embrace innovation.
He emphasized that crypto is the agency’s top priority to close the 10-year gap created by previous regulatory approaches.
When questioned about tokenization and real-world assets, Atkins replied that tokenization is essential because blockchain technology is the most exciting aspect of crypto.
“Tokenization is not necessarily the numerous crypto coins as many would come and go, but I think putting things on-chain presents huge potential benefits for the financial industry and elsewhere.”
He added that blockchain’s transparency makes it incredibly powerful for solving compliance issues.
Atkins’ comments have renewed attention on how existing securities laws, particularly the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, apply to digital assets.
Under the 1933 Act, any asset classified as a “security” must be registered with the SEC unless an exemption applies.
The 1934 Act extends oversight to secondary markets, regulating broker-dealers, exchanges, and market manipulation.
