Paul Atkins, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the launch of 'Project Crypto,' aimed at comprehensively reforming the existing regulatory framework to accommodate crypto assets and promote the 'on-chain' transformation of U.S. financial markets. Previously, the White House's Digital Asset Market Working Group released a report recommending the establishment of a regulatory framework, and Trump also signed a regulatory bill for crypto stablecoins and pushed for the passage of related framework legislation. Atkins noted that many legacy rules are no longer applicable to today's 'on-chain' markets, and the SEC will draft clear regulations while considering the use of various authorities to avoid stifling innovation.
The SEC's five major reform directions to promote the 'on-chain' transformation of financial markets are as follows:
1. Ending Regulatory Uncertainty: Establish a regulatory framework for the issuance of crypto assets in the U.S., set clear classification standards, and create dedicated mechanisms for projects that meet the characteristics of securities, anticipating new use cases for crypto asset securities, such as 'tokenized stocks.'
2. Supporting Diverse Custody and Trading Platforms: Support self-custody wallets, reform related regulations, and establish more suitable regulations for registered institutions to custody crypto assets.
3. Promoting the Emergence of 'Super Apps': Collaborate with other regulatory agencies to establish effective licensing structures, allowing non-security crypto assets and crypto asset securities to trade concurrently on SEC-regulated platforms, and explore the possibility of trading non-security crypto assets in unregistered trading venues.
4. Promoting the 'On-Chain' Transformation of U.S. Financial Markets: Support the operation of decentralized financial systems, amend relevant regulations to support on-chain trading of tokenized securities, and encourage the development of purely software-based financial service systems.
5. Changing Regulatory Logic, Providing 'Innovation Exemptions': Allow new business models that do not fully comply with existing regulations to enter the market temporarily, provided they adhere to the core principles of U.S. securities law.
