Paul Atkins, the newly appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that the crypto industry needs clear rules. The current framework for Bitcoin and crypto regulation “badly needs attention,” he added.
Atkins was speaking at the SEC’s Crypto Task Force roundtable on Apr. 25 when he made these remarks.
The SEC chair said that entrepreneurs across the U.S. are harnessing blockchain technology to modernize aspects of the financial system and he expected huge benefits from this market innovation in terms of efficiency, cost reduction, transparency, and risk mitigation.
Atkins criticized the previous SEC administration led by Gary Gensler for stifling innovation in the crypto industry. He said that innovation unfortunately has been stifled for the last several years due to market and regulatory uncertainty that the SEC has fostered.
The SEC chair also said that he looked forward to engaging with market participants and his colleagues in President Donald Trump’s administration to establish a rational, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for crypto assets.
Atkins extended his warmest thanks to the SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, also known as “crypto mom,” for her tireless advocacy for common sense crypto policy within the U.S. Peirce is the right person to lead the effort to come up with a rational, regulatory framework for crypto assets, Atkins said.
The urgency of a unified, clear regulatory framework for digital asset custody was a common chord at the SEC’s Crypto Task Force roundtable, where regulators, crypto firms, and legal experts met for “Know Your Custodian.”
Speakers emphasized that unnecessarily prescriptive rules — such as requiring certain technologies or ratios of hot storage to cold — threaten to stifle innovation. Instead, participants argued for a principles-based, tech-neutral approach.
The conversation also centered around the different roles between custodial and SaaS, proof-of-reserve protocols, and whether other entities, outside banks and broker-dealers, should be considered custodians under SEC and Advisors Act definitions.
