Compiled by: Rhythm BlockBeats

Original text: Remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on Decentralized Finance

Editor's note: On June 10, the DeFi Education Fund disclosed that the U.S. SEC's crypto task force held a roundtable discussion on "DeFi and the American Spirit." At the beginning of the roundtable, SEC Chair Atkins discussed how decentralized finance (DeFi) aligns with American values: "The American values of economic freedom, private property rights, and innovation are the core genes of the decentralized finance (DeFi) movement." Additionally, Chair Atkins emphasized that developers of neutral tools should not be held responsible for the actions of third parties.

Thank you all, good afternoon. I am very honored to be here with you today. First, I would like to thank Commissioner Peirce and the cryptocurrency special task force for organizing this event, and I appreciate the participation of Commissioners Crenshaw and Uyeda. Of course, I also want to thank all the guests and moderator Troy Parades for voluntarily dedicating your time and expertise to support our work.

The theme of today's roundtable is "DeFi and the American Spirit." This is an apt title because the core American values of economic freedom, private property rights, and innovation are deeply embedded in the DNA of the decentralized finance movement. As a creatively disruptive technology, blockchain is driving a fundamental reconstruction of how we transfer and secure intellectual and economic property rights. Through a shared database enabled by blockchain, users can own digital property known as crypto assets without relying on intermediaries or centralized methods, incentivizing participants to adhere to network rules to maintain database integrity, exemplifying a free market system; users pay fees based on supply and demand, allowing transactions to be included in "blocks" with limited storage capacity.

The previous administration's litigation and regulatory threats suggested that staking-as-a-service providers might be involved in securities trading, effectively hindering American citizens' participation in market systems. The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance should not include voluntary participation in proof-of-work or proof-of-stake networks as miners, validators, or staking service providers under federal securities law. Regulatory guidance has not yet formed legally binding rules. The SEC urgently needs to advance the legislative process based on congressional authorization.

Private property self-custody means that individuals have the right to manage and control their legally owned property without external interference. As a cornerstone of American founding principles, it should not disappear due to internet access. We advocate for greater flexibility and autonomy for market participants, especially when intermediary institutions impose unnecessary transaction costs or restrict users' participation in staking and other on-chain activities.

The previous administration claimed that developers of on-chain technologies like self-custody digital wallets might engage in securities brokerage activities through regulatory actions, which stifled technological innovation in the field. It is clearly unreasonable for engineers to be bound by federal securities regulations simply for releasing such software code. The regulatory logic has been explicitly rejected in Risley v. Universal Navigation Inc. (2025 WL 615185): engineers should not be held liable under securities laws merely for releasing software code. The core principle established in the ruling states—"Just as developers of autonomous driving systems are not liable for third-party traffic violations or bank robberies using their vehicles, technology tool providers should not be held jointly liable for the misuse of on-chain tools by others. The responsible parties under securities law should be those who actually control user assets and engage in specific violations, not the underlying technology developers."

Currently, many entrepreneurs are focused on developing autonomous software applications that do not require operator management. Such self-executing code has the following characteristics: universal accessibility, no central controlling party, and support for private peer-to-peer transactions—though it may seem like science fiction, blockchain technology is making such new intermediary-free software a reality. I firmly believe that we should not allow regulatory frameworks established a century ago to hinder technological innovations that could disrupt and, more importantly, substantially improve and upgrade existing financial intermediary models. We cannot refuse to move forward out of fear of the future.

Stress tests have validated that such on-chain autonomous systems exhibit structural resilience. During recent market turmoil, while centralized platforms frequently collapsed, most on-chain systems continued to operate strictly according to open-source protocol designs. Empirical analysis from the S&P Global Ratings report (https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/research/pdf-articles/230622-crypto-cefi-and-defi-must-strike-a-balance-to-thrive-101578824.) confirmed that the collapse of several centralized finance (CeFi) institutions in 2022 exposed their risk management deficiencies, governance shortcomings, and inter-institutional contagion risks, while in stark contrast, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols overall withstood the shocks, with the major collateral lending platforms' write-off ratios approaching zero and trading volumes on decentralized exchanges continuing to grow.

The current securities regulatory framework is built on the premise of regulating issuers and intermediaries (including broker-dealers, investment advisors, exchanges, clearing agencies, etc.). The rulemakers at that time likely did not foresee scenarios where self-executing code could replace such entities. Therefore, I have asked the committee staff to explore whether further guidance or rules should be issued, whether supplementary regulatory guidance or amendments to existing regulations are needed, so that registered entities can trade with these on-chain systems in compliance with the law.

I also recognize the potential for issuers and intermediaries to use on-chain systems to eliminate economic friction, enhance capital efficiency, develop new financial products, and increase liquidity. Current securities regulations already consider the use of new technologies, but I have asked the staff to assess whether the committee rules need to be amended to provide more targeted adaptive adjustments for registered entities operating on-chain financial systems.

During the SEC and its staff's development of specialized rules for on-chain financial markets, I have instructed the working team to study the establishment of a "conditional exemption mechanism" (also known as an "innovation exemption pathway") to enable both registered and non-registered entities to accelerate the launch of on-chain financial products and services. This exemption mechanism encourages developers, entrepreneurs, and related institutions to develop on-chain technology in the U.S. by setting compliance innovation conditions, thereby advancing President Trump's vision of "making the U.S. a global hub for crypto assets"

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

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