US SEC unveils major reforms to support crypto, blockchain trading

The head of the US securities regulator unveiled sweeping plans to overhaul capital markets regulations on Thursday to accommodate cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based trading, in a major win for the digital asset industry, which has long pushed for tailored rules. 

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said in remarks that he has directed commission staff to craft guidelines to determine when a crypto token is a security as well as proposals for a wide range of disclosures and exemptions. 

Atkins also said he has asked SEC staff to work with firms looking to offer tokenized securities -- blockchain-based shares of stocks or funds. 

"This represents more than a regulatory shift” it is a generational opportunity," Atkins said in a speech before the America First Policy Institute, a think tank that was created to support President Donald Trump's policy agenda. 

If enacted, Atkins' proposals would represent a broad shift for U.S. securities regulation, potentially enabling crypto to become more enmeshed with traditional finance. 

Details of his plans for crypto come just a day after a cryptocurrency working group formed by Trump called on the SEC to create new rules specific to digital assets and outlined the administration's stances on market-defining crypto legislation. 

In a landmark report, the White House encouraged the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use their existing authorities to "immediately enable the trading of digital assets at the federal level." 

On the campaign trail last year, Trump courted crypto cash by pledging to be a "crypto president" and promote the adoption of digital assets. 

That is in stark contrast to former Democratic President Joe Biden's regulators, who, in a bid to protect Americans from fraud and money laundering, cracked down on the industry. The Biden administration's SEC sued exchanges Coinbase, Binance, and dozens more, alleging they were flouting U.S. laws. 

Trump's SEC has since dropped those cases.