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As John noted last week, new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins was sworn in last Monday and we have been anxiously awaiting to hear from him about his agenda for the agency. His first remarks came at Friday’s latest Crypto Task Force Roundtable, where each of the Commissioners offered opening remarks. The speech by Chairman Atkins was short and to the point:

Welcome to the third roundtable of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force.

I am in my fourth day back at the Commission and thank my fellow Commissioners and the SEC staff for their warm welcome. I am eager to tackle long festering issues, such as regulatory treatment of digital assets and distributed ledger technologies.

In addition, my warmest personal thanks go to Commissioner Peirce for her principled and tireless advocacy for common-sense crypto policy within the United States. It is no wonder that she has earned the title of “CryptoMom.” Commissioner Peirce is the right person to lead the effort to come up with a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets. Thank you to the panelists for volunteering their time and expertise.

This is important work as entrepreneurs across the United States are harnessing blockchain technology to modernize aspects of our financial system. I expect huge benefits from this market innovation for efficiency, cost reduction, transparency, and risk mitigation. Market participants engaging with this technology deserve clear regulatory rules of the road. Innovation has been stifled for the last several years due to market and regulatory uncertainty that unfortunately the SEC has fostered.

I look forward to engaging with market participants and working with colleagues in President Trump’s Administration and Congress to establish a rational, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for crypto assets.

Today’s roundtable is focused on the challenges SEC registrants face when attempting to safely custody crypto assets for their customers in compliance with the federal securities laws. For example, are changes needed to the custody rules under the Exchange Act, Advisers Act, or Investment Company Act to accommodate crypto assets and blockchain technology? Is the “special purpose broker-dealer” regime workable for market participants, or is a new crypto asset broker-dealer framework needed? The market itself seems to indicate that the current framework badly needs attention. You all can help give us direction.

Thank you all for dedicating your Friday afternoon to helping us address these important issues. I look forward to a productive discussion.

As Chairman Atkins makes more public appearances (particularly the external ones) over the coming days and weeks, we will be able to get more insight into his developing agenda.

– Dave Lynn