SEC leaders seek to clarify how tokenized securities interact with existing regulation

Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the agency’s crypto task force head, Hester Peirce, said Wednesday they would support efforts to clarify how “tokenized securities interact with existing regulation,” better positioning industry developers.

Speaking to attendees at the ETHDenver conference on the future of regulation, Atkins and Peirce addressed concerns about volatility in many cryptocurrency prices and how the agency plans to move forward with digital asset regulation amid a potential market structure bill in Congress.

In response to “falling crypto prices of late,” likely referring to the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) falling by more than 28% and 40%, respectively, in the previous 30 days, Atkins said:

“As regulators, the best thing we can do is to ensure that the rules governing the asset classes we regulate enable people to have the information they need to express their market sentiments through decisions about whether to buy, sell, or hold the assets at issue.”

SEC’s Hester Peirce (left) and Paul Atkins (right). Source: ETHDenver

Neither commissioner directly spoke on efforts to pass market structure legislation in Congress, although Peirce said that the SEC had “provided technical assistance” on the matter. A bill moving through the US Senate, called the CLARITY Act when it passed the House of Representatives in July, could shift much of the SEC’s authority over digital assets to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Related: Democratic lawmakers slam SEC Chair Atkins over crypto enforcement

ETHDenver, happening this week in Colorado, is one of the largest cryptocurrency events in the United States, bringing together developers and industry leaders.

CFTC is still understaffed, despite Senate-confirmed chair

Michael Selig, confirmed as a commissioner and chair of the CFTC in December, remains the sole leader at an agency intended for five commission members. As the US Senate considers provisions within the market structure bill, some lawmakers have pushed for language requiring at least four commissioners to be confirmed before the law can take effect.

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