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Speaking before the "Special Competitive Studies Project AI+ Expo" today, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins outlined how his agency intends on updating its regulations for onchain markets.
What's the Scoop?
- Modern Rules: In remarks delivered Friday, SEC Chair Atkins confirmed that his agency is evaluating formal rulemaking regarding how securities laws apply to onchain trading systems.
- Regulatory Expansion: According to Atkins, the SEC is already assessing when existing regulations governing “exchanges,” “broker-dealers,” and “clearing agencies” as defined by in-place securities laws should apply to blockchain-based trading protocols, software interfaces, and settlement infrastructure. The SEC is also examining when yield-bearing "crypto vaults" should be regulated by the Securities Act and Advisers Act.
- CLARITY Comments: While Atkins again urged Congress to progress the long-stalled CLARITY Act to President Trump’s desk, arguing that legislation will provide stronger long-term certainty than agency rulemaking alone, his SEC remains content on working to bring onchain markets within the existing regulatory fold in the interim. "The SEC will keep moving forward in its work to accommodate markets moving onchain," Atkins proclaimed.
What's the Take?
Although the SEC under Atkins masquerades as accommodative toward the crypto industry, having paused the wave of aggressive enforcement actions levied under Gary Gensler's management, the agency has made it increasingly clear that it will not allow crypto markets to operate in regulatory limbo indefinitely. Even absent the passage of CLARITY, the SEC is already equipped with tools it needs to police the crypto industry.
🚨NEW: In remarks given at an event today, SEC Chair @SECPaulSAtkins laid out a handful of areas where the agency is considering modernizing securities rules for onchain markets, including potential rulemakings around what qualifies as an exchange, broker, dealer and clearing… pic.twitter.com/InshRaHEeg
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) May 8, 2026
