SEC Chair: Blockchain ‘holds promise’ of new kinds of market activity

SEC Chair Paul Atkins signaled a shift from enforcement-first policy to clear rulemaking during the Commission’s roundtable on May 12.

Blockchain technology could enable “a broad swath of novel use cases for securities” and foster “new kinds of market activities that many of the Commission’s legacy rules and regulations do not contemplate today,” Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins said.

During his keynote address at the Commission’s May 12 roundtable on tokenization and digital assets, Atkins welcomed “a new day at the SEC,” adding that “policymaking will no longer result from ad hoc enforcement actions. Instead, the Commission will utilize its existing rulemaking, interpretive, and exemptive authorities to set fit-for-purpose standards for market participants.”

A key priority will be to “develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.”

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