SEC Chair: U.S. Previously ‘Missed Out on a Big Opportunity’ in Crypto, Now Trying to Catch Up

BlockBeats News, February 28th. The current SEC Chairman Paul Atkins criticized former Chairman Gary Gensler for "failing to try to adapt to innovation" during his tenure at a University of Texas event, saying the U.S. has "missed a significant opportunity" in the crypto field and is now trying to make up for lost ground.

Paul Atkins stated that since the Trump administration, the SEC has shifted to a more industry-friendly posture, establishing a crypto-specialist group, dismissing multiple enforcement actions against large institutions, and launching "Project Crypto" to update regulations. Paul Atkins emphasized the potential of distributed ledger technology in payment clearing and settlement and revealed that the SEC has approved WisdomTree's 7x24-hour settlement tokenized cryptocurrency ETF, with plans to further promote tokenized bank deposits.