The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly developing a special “innovation waiver” to streamline the approval process for digital asset offerings, according to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Tuesday.
During a conversation on Fox Business, Atkins mentioned to Maria Bartiromo that the regulatory body intends to finalize “new regulations in the near future.”
“We are exploring an innovation exemption— aiming to have it operational before the end of the year.”
This “innovation exemption” would essentially act as a regulatory exception, providing crypto firms with temporary flexibility from established securities guidelines. This would allow them to introduce new offerings under a more relaxed oversight structure while the SEC formulates specific, tailored regulations.
Atkins commented on the recent clearance of the first U.S. multi-asset cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP). This investment vehicle, which debuted Friday, gives investors diversified exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA).
Grayscale’s digital asset fund was authorized utilizing the SEC’s recently introduced standardized listing criteria, which accelerates the ETF approval timeline according to Rule 6c-11.
According to Atkins, the revised guidelines demonstrate “another instance of regulatory advancement. This represents a planned approach rather than individual decisions. The aim is to offer the market a foundation to build new products.”
Atkins Champions Cryptocurrency Innovation
Atkins, inaugurated as chair in April, is a prominent advocate for digital assets and the modernization of the financial sector.
On July 31, he unveiled “Project Crypto” — a program focused on updating security regulations concerning crypto, and to facilitate the “migration of U.S. financial markets to blockchain.”
Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole in August, he informed the audience that relatively few tokens should be classified as securities, while adding that such classification “is dependent on the circumstances surrounding its packaging and marketing.”
This view contrasts notably with his predecessor, Gary Gensler, who emphasized that the Howey test, as applied by the SEC, suggests that most digital assets should be viewed as securities.
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