In a May 12, 2025 Keynote Address before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Crypto Task Force’s fourth industry roundtable on digital assets, newly-minted Chair Paul Atkins laid out a sweeping vision for modernizing the U.S. securities framework to accommodate blockchain-based assets. His remarks reflect a sharp departure from his predecessor’s enforcement-heavy stance and outline a more rules-based, innovation-oriented approach.
Atkins likened the move from traditional securities to tokenized instruments to the digitization of music, suggesting that blockchain technology will unlock novel and improved ways to issue, own, and trade assets.
As outlined in the Chair’s address, the SEC’s crypto policy agenda will center around three pillars of issuance, custody, and trading:
- Issuance: Atkins criticized the SEC’s failure to adapt Form S-1 and other disclosures to tokenized assets, noting that only four issuers have registered crypto offerings to date. He committed to establishing clear and sensible guidelines for crypto assets that are securities or subject to an investment contract and exploring new exemptions and safe harbors to registration requirements, emphasizing that staff guidance is not a substitute for Commission action.
- Custody: Atkins referenced the SEC’s recent rescission of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121—which required custodians to record crypto assets as liabilities and assets on their own balance sheets despite not owning them—calling the guidance an overreach that discouraged lawful custodial services. He pledged clarity on qualified custodian standards and suggested reforms to allow investment advisers and funds to self-custody under certain circumstances. Atkins also raised the possibility of repealing and replacing the “special purpose broker-dealer” framework, which placed strict conditions on custodians of digital asset securities.
- Trading: Atkins supported enabling broker-dealers to offer trading in both securities and non-securities, including crypto asset “pairs trading” through which a security is traded against a crypto asset, such as a stablecoin. Atkins directed staff to explore updates to the framework for Alternative Trading Systems—non-exchange trading platforms that facilitate the matching and execution of securities trades—and consider conditional registration exemption relief where appropriate. In addition, Atkins announced that he has directed SEC staff to explore whether further guidance or rulemaking may be helpful to enable the listing and trading of crypto assets on national securities exchanges.
In sum, Chair Atkins’ remarks confirm that the SEC is shifting toward a more transparent, rules-based regime for crypto markets. Firms weighing decisions relating to token issuance, custodial services, or trading platforms should closely monitor coming developments to ensure they are equipped to hit the ground running once new pathways to compliance are formalized.