SEC's Crypto Oversight Shift: A Bid to Regain Lost Ground
US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins has acknowledged that his agency missed an opportunity to adapt to financial innovation during his predecessor's tenure. In a recent fireside chat at the University of Texas, Atkins described the regulatory approach under former Chair Gary Gensler as stifling rather than structuring the market.
Atkins did not specify what went wrong but emphasized that the agency is working to recover ground on crypto oversight. He praised the establishment of a dedicated crypto task force and the launch of 'Project Crypto,' an internal initiative to modernize existing rules for digital assets.
The SEC has recently approved several blockchain-based financial products, including tokenized money market mutual funds and exemptive relief for WisdomTree's Treasury Money Market Digital Fund. Atkins expressed interest in distributed ledger technology's potential for payment clearing and settlement systems.