U.S. SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated crypto’s time has come, pledging to modernize the U.S. securities rulebook and increase “Undertaking Crypto” to deliver markets on-chain.
Talking in Paris on Sept. 10 on the OECD’s inaugural Roundtable on World Monetary Markets, Atkins stated the SEC is shifting away from enforcement-driven policymaking and can present clear guidelines for tokens, custody, and buying and selling platforms. “Coverage will now not be set by advert hoc enforcement actions,” he stated, calling the brand new method “a golden age of monetary innovation on U.S. soil.”
Atkins stated most tokens usually are not securities and promised bright-line guidelines for figuring out when crypto belongings fall beneath SEC oversight. He stated entrepreneurs should be capable to increase capital on-chain with out “limitless authorized uncertainty” and pledged a framework for platforms that combine buying and selling, lending, and staking beneath one license. Custody guidelines may even be up to date to permit traders and intermediaries a number of choices.
The SEC chair stated Undertaking Crypto would clear the way in which for tokenized securities, new on-chain asset lessons, and decentralized finance software program, whereas making certain investor protections. He additionally highlighted the potential for “super-app” buying and selling platforms and harassed the significance of conserving innovation in america.
Atkins first unveiled Undertaking Crypto on July 31, 2025, in Washington, framing it because the SEC’s “north star” in supporting President Trump’s objective of constructing the U.S. the world’s crypto hub. His Paris remarks expanded on that agenda, outlining extra particulars on custody, capital formation, and platform guidelines.
Atkins’ remarks got here two days after Nasdaq President Tal Cohen posted on LinkedIn that tokenization is an “extraordinary alternative” for world markets. Cohen stated Nasdaq had filed with the SEC to allow buying and selling of tokenized securities, underscoring how main establishments are shifting towards blockchain adoption.
Past crypto, Atkins addressed overseas firm listings, accounting requirements, and European regulation. He raised considerations over “double materiality” in EU reporting legal guidelines, urged secure funding for the IASB, and stated the SEC could revisit its 2007 choice to permit IFRS with out reconciliation to U.S. GAAP if funding points persist.
The SEC chair additionally highlighted synthetic intelligence as a drive that would essentially reshape monetary markets. He described a shift towards “agentic finance,” the place autonomous AI programs might execute trades, allocate capital, and handle danger at speeds no human can match, with compliance embedded immediately into their code.
Such programs, he stated, might ship sooner and cheaper markets whereas opening superior methods to a broader set of traders. Coupled with blockchain infrastructure, these instruments might empower people, enhance competitors, and unlock new progress.
Atkins cautioned, nevertheless, that regulators should present “commonsense guardrails” with out overreacting out of concern. He argued that on-chain capital markets and AI-driven finance are on the horizon, and that America should select management to make sure the subsequent technology of monetary innovation takes root at dwelling.
Atkins concluded by saying regulators should strike a stability between innovation and investor safety. “Crypto’s time has come,” he stated, including that U.S. markets ought to lead the subsequent wave of monetary innovation moderately than watching it unfold abroad.
