SEC Chair Atkins Signals Formal Rulemaking for Onchain Markets and AI-Driven Finance!

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Friday the agency is actively considering formal rulemaking around onchain trading systems, blockchain settlement infrastructure, crypto vaults, and AI-powered financial applications — a significant shift from the enforcement-first posture of the Gensler era. Speaking at the AI+ Expo in Washington, Atkins argued that existing securities rules were designed for traditional intermediaries and no longer map cleanly onto blockchain protocols that bundle brokerage, clearing, collateral management, and settlement into a single piece of software.

"A single protocol can execute a trade, manage collateral, route liquidity, execute trading strategies through vault structures and settle the transaction," Atkins said, making the case that the SEC needs to clarify its view of hybrid traditional–decentralized market models through notice-and-comment rulemaking rather than…