SEC Chair Atkins Signals New Rulemaking for Onchain Markets and DeFi Software!

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Friday that software applications powering onchain markets don't fit neatly into the agency's existing regulatory categories — clearing agency, broker, or exchange — and called for formal notice-and-comment rulemaking to revisit those definitions as they apply to onchain trading systems. Speaking at an AI expo hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project, Atkins noted that a single protocol can execute a trade, manage collateral, route liquidity, and settle a transaction within seconds inside a unified automated system.

Atkins also flagged crypto vaults — onchain yield-generating applications — as an area needing regulatory clarity, and pointed to the SEC's recent staff statement that DeFi wallet interfaces would generally not be considered brokers as a sign of the direction of travel.

The remarks mark a sharp contrast with former Chair Gary Gensler's…