CoinTelegraph
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the agency is taking "historic steps" to move US capital markets onchain, framing the shift as an effort to keep American markets at the front of tokenization rather than regulating it from behind.
Why it matters
Atkins has spent his tenure pushing the SEC toward clearer tokenization and digital-asset rules, and the onchain-markets language extends that mandate beyond spot products into the plumbing of US trading itself. Speaking from the chair's bully pulpit, he tied the move directly to innovation policy, framing tokenized rails as a competitiveness question for US venues against faster-moving offshore markets.
Market impact
The signal lands as Wall Street incumbents from BlackRock to Franklin Templeton deepen pilots around tokenized funds and onchain settlement. An SEC that openly backs onchain market structure, rather than treating it as a fringe experiment, lowers the regulatory ceiling for traditional exchanges, custodians and transfer agents building in this stack.
Frequently asked questions
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What did SEC Chair Paul Atkins actually say about onchain markets?
Atkins said the SEC is taking "historic steps" to move US capital markets onchain, framing the shift as innovation policy and a competitiveness question for American venues rather than a regulatory concession.
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Why is the SEC's onchain push significant for crypto?
It signals that the SEC wants US markets to lead on tokenization instead of regulating it from behind, lowering the regulatory ceiling for traditional exchanges, custodians and transfer agents building onchain rails.
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How does this fit with Atkins' broader SEC agenda?
It extends Atkins' push for clearer digital-asset and tokenization rules beyond spot products into the market-structure plumbing of US trading itself.
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Which traditional finance firms are already active in tokenization?
BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have deepened pilots around tokenized funds and onchain settlement, with other incumbents exploring similar infrastructure.
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Could this move trigger faster tokenization of US stocks and funds?
An SEC openly backing onchain market structure reduces regulatory uncertainty for exchanges and transfer agents, which historically is the precondition for institutional rollout of tokenized US securities.
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