Odaily Planet Daily reports that U.S. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins spoke at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum, stating that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is advancing the "New Era of the SEC" regulatory reform, focusing on modernizing digital asset regulation, promoting on-chain capital market development, and supporting the U.S. to become a "global crypto hub."

Paul Atkins criticized the SEC's previous "regulatory hostility" towards the digital asset industry, claiming that a lot of crypto innovation was forced to relocate overseas. He mentioned that under the support of the Trump administration, the SEC has launched "Project Crypto" and is collaborating with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to push for on-chain market infrastructure and harmonization of crypto regulation. The SEC has recently clarified which digital assets are classified as securities and which are not, and is advancing an innovation exemption mechanism for tokenized listed securities, while studying how on-chain trading systems can fit within the existing regulatory framework.

Additionally, Paul Atkins emphasized that the SEC will reduce "over-disclosure" and regulatory burdens, pushing for the "Make IPOs Great Again" reforms. This includes lowering compliance costs for public companies, increasing IPO flexibility, and formally proposing to repeal the climate disclosure rules introduced during the previous administration. The future of the U.S. capital markets should be built on a foundation of "free markets and innovation-driven" principles, while the role of regulators should be to provide clear rules and legal certainty, rather than stifling technological development.