Overview
- SEC Chair Paul Atkins, speaking Friday at the AI+ Expo, said the agency is preparing notice‑and‑comment rulemaking for blockchain trading, settlement, automated finance, and yield‑generating crypto vaults.
- He said staff are reviewing which on‑chain protocols and software front ends fit legal definitions of an exchange, a broker‑dealer, or a clearing agency.
- Yield‑bearing “crypto vaults” — software that deploys user assets to earn returns — are under review for possible oversight under the Securities Act and the Investment Advisers Act.
- Atkins pointed to a near‑term “innovation pathway” using tools like exemptive relief, drawing on the 1990s playbook that led to Regulation ATS for electronic trading.
- He linked the push to AI‑driven, machine‑speed finance and urged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act for longer‑term certainty, saying the SEC will give firms clearer guardrails in the interim.