SEC Chair: Will focus on on-chain financial markets in the future, urges Congress to pass the CLARITY Act

BlockBeats News, May 9 — The Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, stated in a public speech that future focus will be on on-chain financial markets. The existing regulatory framework of the SEC is difficult to fully adapt to automated, smart contract-driven protocols, and clear guidance needs to be provided through rulemaking, including re-examining the application of “trading platforms,” “broker-dealer platforms,” and “clearing agencies” in on-chain scenarios, as well as addressing securities law and advisory law issues related to “crypto vaults.” Paul Atkins also expressed support for limited innovation exemption pathways and called on Congress to pass the “Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act” (the CLARITY Act) to provide long-term certainty through legislation. Atkins warned that excessive regulation or uncertainty could push innovation overseas, and the U.S. should continue to lead the global market through understanding and adaptation.

Regarding AI, Atkins stated that while artificial intelligence is unprecedented in scale, it is fundamentally an extension of historical capability expansion tools, capable of improving risk management and expanding investor access, but caution is needed regarding issues such as model opacity and systemic risk. The SEC will adhere to the principle that companies are responsible for their use of tools and will not mandate specific models or solidify existing technologies.

According to PolyBeats monitoring, on the prediction market Polymarket, there is a 75% probability that the “Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act” (the CLARITY Act) will take effect this year.