SEC chair Paul Atkins signals rule changes for onchain markets and AI-driven finance
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Friday the agency is considering changes to how securities regulations apply to blockchain-based financial markets and AI-powered financial applications, as digital asset firms increasingly move trading and settlement activity onchain. Speaking at the AI+ Expo in Washington, Atkins said the SEC is considering formal rulemaking around onchain trading systems, blockchain settlement infrastructure, automated financial applications and crypto vaults that increasingly blur the lines between traditional players. Existing securities rules were designed around traditional market intermediaries such as brokers, exchanges and clearinghouses, he argued, while newer blockchain systems often combine those functions into a single software protocol. Atkins predecessor, Gary Gensler, had held a similar view, though he focused more on centralized exchanges that the SEC argued provided those different functions under one roof at the time, mostly through lawsuits. “A single protocol can execute a trade, manage collateral, route liquidity, execute trading strategies through vault structures and settle the transaction,” Atkins said. “We should remember that onchain market structures today are often hybrid in nature, combining elements of what are often referred to as ‘traditional’ and ‘decentralized’ finance,” he said. “We should clarify how the Commission views the spectrum of models that may implicate our statutes through notice and