Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)

Last night, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held a roundtable meeting themed "DeFi and the American Spirit."

Prior to this meeting, the SEC had held four roundtable meetings on cryptocurrency, but perhaps due to the progress of the new SEC chairman Paul Atkins, not much concrete and clear policy guidance had emerged from the previous meetings.

• Odaily Note: Paul Atkins officially took office on April 22, and shortly after, during the third meeting (just four days into his term), he gave a very brief opening speech. In the fourth meeting, he delivered a lengthy speech on cryptocurrency for the first time as SEC chairman (see "What signals did the new SEC chairman reveal in his first Crypto-themed speech?"), but that speech only provided an overall overview of his work plan as SEC chairman and did not elaborate much on regulatory issues concerning specific sub-sectors.

However, last night's meeting was entirely different. Paul Atkins dropped several bombshells in his speech, almost issuing a series of "get out of jail free cards" for DeFi in a stacked manner.

As a result of this positive news, the DeFi sector experienced a long-awaited surge. As of today at 11:20, the performance of mainstream DeFi tokens is as follows:

• AAVE is currently at 289.15 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 15.54%;

• UNI is currently at 7.045 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 12.85%;

• HYPE is currently at 39.15 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 11.2%;

• PENDLE is currently at 4.355 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 14.2%;

• MKR is currently at 1980 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 13.66%;

Full Text of Paul Atkins' Speech

Thank you all, good afternoon. It is a great honor to gather with you today. First, I want to thank Commissioner Peirce and the cryptocurrency working group for organizing this event, and I also appreciate the participation of Commissioners Crenshaw and Uyeda. Of course, I want to especially thank the roundtable guests and moderator Troy Parades for their time and wisdom contributed to this discussion.

The theme of today's roundtable is "DeFi and the American Spirit." This title is apt, because the core American values of economic freedom, private property rights, and innovation are the inherent genes of the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement.

Blockchain is undoubtedly a highly creative and potentially revolutionary innovation that prompts us to rethink the ownership and transfer proof of intellectual property and economic property rights. As a shared database, blockchain allows individuals to own digital property known as crypto assets without relying on intermediaries. These peer-to-peer networks encourage participants to verify and maintain the database according to network rules through economic incentive mechanisms. This is a true free market system—users pay network participants service fees based on demand, incorporating their transactions into the so-called "blocks" with limited storage capacity.

The previous U.S. government claimed through lawsuits, speeches, regulations, and regulatory threats that participants and staking service providers might be involved in securities trading, thereby hindering Americans from participating in these market-oriented systems. I am grateful that my colleagues in the corporate finance division clarified their position: Voluntarily participating as "miners," "validators," or "staking service providers" in proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS) networks is not subject to federal securities laws. While I am pleased with this progress, it is not a formally promulgated rule with legal effect, so we still have work to do. The SEC must establish corresponding regulations based on the authority granted by Congress.

Another core feature of blockchain technology is that it allows individuals to self-custody crypto assets through digital wallets. The right to self-custody private property is a fundamental American value that should not disappear simply because one logs onto the internet. I support granting market participants more flexibility in self-custodying crypto assets, especially in cases where intermediaries may impose unnecessary transaction costs or restrict on-chain staking activities.

The previous government claimed through regulatory actions that developers of on-chain technologies such as self-custody digital wallets might be engaging in brokerage activities, which severely harmed relevant innovations. It is unreasonable for engineers to be bound by federal securities laws simply for releasing such software code. As a court ruling stated (here quoting the original text of the ruling): "It is absurd to hold autonomous vehicle developers responsible for third parties using vehicles to violate traffic laws or rob banks. In such cases, people would not sue the car company for aiding and abetting a crime, but would sue the individuals committing the crime."

Many entrepreneurs are developing software applications that do not require operator management. This self-executing code, which is available to everyone, uncontrolled, and supports private peer-to-peer transactions, may sound like science fiction. But blockchain technology has indeed spawned a new class of software that can achieve these functions without intermediaries. We should not allow a century-old regulatory framework to stifle potential disruptions—more importantly, to improve and advance—technological innovations in the current traditional intermediary model. We need not fear the future that will naturally arise.

It has been proven that these on-chain self-executing software systems exhibit strong resilience in times of crisis. When centralized platforms have shaken and collapsed under recent pressures, many on-chain systems continue to operate according to the design of open-source code.

Current securities regulations are primarily based on the regulation of issuers and intermediaries (such as broker-dealers, advisors, exchanges, and clearing agencies). The creators of these rules may not have envisioned that self-executing code would replace these entities. I have asked the committee staff to study whether further guidance or legislation is needed to allow registered entities to legally and compliantly transact with these software systems.

I am equally excited about issuers and intermediaries using on-chain software systems to eliminate economic friction, improve capital efficiency, innovate financial products, and enhance liquidity. Current securities regulations have considered the use of new technologies by issuers and intermediaries, but I still ask the staff to assess whether the committee's rules need to be revised to better support those operating on-chain financial systems.

While the committee and its staff develop regulatory rules suitable for on-chain financial markets, I have instructed the staff to consider establishing a conditional exemption framework or "innovation exemption" mechanism that allows both registered and non-registered entities to quickly launch on-chain products and services. By encouraging developers, entrepreneurs, and other businesses willing to comply with specific conditions to innovate on-chain technology in the U.S., this exemption mechanism helps realize President Trump's vision of making the U.S. the "global cryptocurrency capital."

Thank you all for listening, and I look forward to the upcoming discussion.

Detailed Analysis

"The core American values of economic freedom, private property rights, and innovation are the inherent genes of the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement."

This sentence is a key point, directly elevating DeFi and emphasizing that its development aligns with America's core values.

Voluntarily participating as "miners," "validators," or "staking service providers" in proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake networks is not subject to federal securities laws.

This can be seen as the first "get out of jail free card," benefiting a multitude of projects in the mining and staking service industries, and indirectly helping to stabilize all PoW and PoS networks.

The previous SEC, led by Gary Gensler, had repeatedly targeted the staking sector, such as naming Lido and Rocket Pool's liquid staking derivative tokens stETH and rETH as unregistered securities, while Paul Atkins' statement clearly indicates that the SEC will no longer trouble these projects for securities violations.

I support granting market participants more flexibility in self-custodying crypto assets, especially in cases where intermediaries may impose unnecessary transaction costs or restrict on-chain staking activities… The previous government claimed through regulatory actions that developers of on-chain technologies such as self-custody digital wallets might be engaging in brokerage activities, which severely harmed relevant innovations…

This is a reiteration of the excessive regulation under the previous SEC that hindered innovation in the self-custody space.

Paul Atkins used the analogy that "automobile developers should not be held responsible for third parties hijacking cars to commit crimes" to emphasize that the development of on-chain technologies such as self-custody digital wallets should not be conflated with financial brokerage institutions, and therefore developers should not be bound by federal securities laws simply for releasing such software code.

This inevitably brings to mind the controversial case of the TornadoCash developers…

Current securities regulations are primarily based on the regulation of issuers and intermediaries (such as broker-dealers, advisors, exchanges, and clearing agencies). The creators of these rules may not have envisioned that self-executing code would replace these entities.

I find this sentence very crucial, because it implies that Paul Atkins has clearly recognized the essential difference between on-chain financial products and traditional financial services—relying on code to achieve automated services, which may represent a different perspective the SEC will take in evaluating on-chain financial issues in the future.

While the committee and its staff develop regulatory rules suitable for on-chain financial markets, I have instructed the staff to consider establishing a conditional exemption framework or "innovation exemption" mechanism that allows both registered and non-registered entities to quickly launch on-chain products and services.

This is undoubtedly the most significant statement in the entire speech—this will provide clear legal guidance for the launch and operation of DeFi projects during the finalization of new rules and can be seen as a regulatory easing for the entire DeFi industry.

Paul Atkins had previously emphasized his desire to shift the SEC's approach from the previous "punishment after the fact" to "guidance before the fact," and this is the specific strategy he has provided.

In summary, from the perspective of the entire DeFi sector, last night's roundtable meeting can almost be regarded as a milestone event, representing that the SEC has finally provided concrete and clear regulatory guidelines for this sub-sector. For DeFi, which has long been seen as the most vibrant yet heavily regulated sector, this may mark the beginning of another spring.

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