SEC Chairman Atkins Says New Crypto Rules Aim to Lure Firms Back

The SEC's newly proposed Regulation Crypto Assets is being framed by Chairman Paul Atkins as a deliberate effort to lure back crypto firms that departed the US during the last four years.

Atkins has described the proposal's two exemptions for capital raising as just one piece of a larger case he has been making for months. He contends that it was aggressive enforcement, rather than ambiguous regulations, that drove crypto developers abroad.

Blaming Years of Regulation by Enforcement

Years of rigorous enforcement have been blamed by Atkins for stifling legitimate crypto fundraising. He argued that founders required clear guidance, not legal battles.

The old approach, he argued, compelled crypto assets to adhere to securities regulations from the 1930s. He stated that those rules were never designed for tokens.

“In fact, in the past, it actively undermined capital formation with regard to this asset class in the form of regulation by enforcement and disingenuous offers to ‘come in and register.’”

Paul Atkins, SEC Chairman, in a statement

‘We Can’t Fool Ourselves’ on Where Investors Put Their Money

Atkins said in an interview with Fox Business that the new proposal aims to reassure founders that the agency had driven away. He claimed that the previous administration's four-year period forced innovators to develop products and raise funds overseas.

Atkins' central argument is pragmatic, not nationalistic. With a few clicks, investors can already transfer money across borders. Preventing them from doing so legally domestically merely drives activity further away.

“We can’t fool ourselves. American investors in the age of the internet can send their money anywhere. So we need to make sure that they can do it here in the United States under United States law.”

Paul Atkins, SEC Chairman, to Fox

Still Pressing Congress for the CLARITY Act

Atkins asserts that rulemaking alone will not resolve the issue. He desires Congress to enact the CLARITY Act. The legislation would split crypto oversight between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He argues that only legislation can establish enduring rules that a future SEC cannot easily overturn.

Atkins is not picking between whether Congress or the SEC's own rulemaking acts first. He portrays both as part of the same effort to repatriate capital.