Odaily News On March 12th, US SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated during an appearance on the All-In Podcast that, from his perspective, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) offers numerous potential advantages for the financial services industry. The industry is currently at a critical juncture, with the potential to achieve T+0 settlement, meaning near-instantaneous completion of delivery and payment, or even direct payment through on-chain digital assets. He described this prospect as “very exciting,” but noted that to guard against risks such as fraud, the system might still require certain “speed bumps” or friction points.

However, he also pointed out that this model still faces some challenges, such as liquidity issues. How the concept of the “best bid and offer” from traditional markets should be reflected within the new trading architecture remains one of the important issues to be resolved.

Atkins emphasized that the SEC’s fundamental principle is: if an asset is inherently a security, even if it is tokenized, its legal nature remains that of a security and it must still comply with federal securities laws. At the same time, regulators also have a responsibility to ensure that existing rules can adapt to new application scenarios. As trading purposes and settlement methods evolve, the regulatory framework also needs to be adjusted accordingly.

He stated that the SEC is currently reviewing existing regulatory rules on a case-by-case basis to assess their suitability for the emerging technological environment and to update the institutional framework where necessary.