Douglas Gillison
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said agencies have curtailed innovation in the cryptocurrency sector by fostering “regulatory uncertainty” over the past few years.
“Market participants engaged in this technology deserve clear regulatory rules for roads,” Paul Atkins said in his first statement since being sworn in as chairman of the agency earlier this week.
He spoke for SEC’s Crypto Roundtable. Republican leaders have considered how securities laws apply to digital assets, a field of tension between the sector and institutions under previous leadership.
Having worked with crypto companies in recent years, Atkins is widely expected to take a softer tack in the industry. Gary Gensler, the agency’s former chairman, had targeted what he described as a widespread violation of the U.S. securities law and industry.
Even before Atkins’ arrival, the SEC has dramatically changed Crypto’s position in recent months, creating new regulations for the sector, and pausing or walking completely away from enforcement cases.
When asked about the possibility that the SEC would halt Chinese companies trading as trade tensions grow between the two biggest economies in the world, the agency would take action if companies do not comply with US law.
(Reporting by Douglas GillisonAdditional Chlis Prentice, Edited by Franklin Paul)