The United States is likely 10 years behind other jurisdictions in developing a clear, innovation-friendly regulatory framework for crypto-asset trading, according to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins. Speaking at Fintech Week DC At Wednesday’s conference, he called closing that gap the “first order of business” for the agency.
“We want to make sure we build a strong framework (for crypto) to really attract people to the United States,” he said, adding “but also build a framework for the future so that innovation can thrive.”
He called asset tokenization a necessary step to unlock innovation in financial markets. “We have this technology, distributed ledger technology, which to me is the most exciting part of all of this, more than the coins themselves,” he said. “I think putting things on chain has huge potential for financial markets, for reducing risk… for transparency, it solves a lot of compliance issues, and it just makes it more democratized and accessible to tokenize various products.”
In addition to new, innovation-friendly regulations, Atkins also addressed the need for innovation in the operation of regulatory agencies themselves.
“There are many different agencies interested in crypto, but why should you register with multiple agencies when we are all focused on the same goal? he asked. “Why can we have mutual recognition between them? »
He launched the concept of a “super app” that would enable a single registration that would be reified across all relevant agencies. “It’s smart to think of regulatory coordination as an application in itself,” he said.
Related: EU faces new calls from France for unified crypto regulation
The president also reiterated his proposal to create an “innovation exemption” that would allow crypto companies to launch products more quickly without going through the full securities regulatory process. He added that the SEC already has the authority to grant exemptions and is committed to using it. “We can be very forward-thinking in order to adapt to new ideas,” he said.
Atkins’ current position as president is his third stint with the SEC. He started as a member of the president’s office in the 1990s, then served as commissioner for affairs. He agreed to return as president, he said, in part because he saw an opportunity to help usher in an era of crypto-based financial markets.
“I would like to say that we are the Securities and Innovation Commission,” he joked.
He also saw the presidency as an opportunity to break from previous SEC regimes that he believed were either indifferent or hostile to crypto.
“The agency has had two iterations” around technological innovation in general and cryptography in particular, he said. “The first was the ostrich approach, head in the sand, hoping it all goes away, the second was regulation through enforcement. We’re doing neither.”
