SEC Chair Paul Atkins Voices Support for Self-Custody of Crypto Assets As ‘Foundational American Value’

The new chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) supports crypto self-custody.

Paul Atkins, who was sworn in as SEC Chair in April, spoke at the Commission’s Crypto Task Force Roundtable on Decentralized Finance this week.

The new chair says self-custody in a digital wallet is a “core feature” of blockchain technology.

“The right to have self-custody of one’s private property is a foundational American value that should not disappear when one logs onto the internet. I am in favor of affording greater flexibility to market participants to self-custody crypto assets, especially where intermediation imposes unnecessary transaction costs or restricts the ability to engage in staking and other on-chain activities.

The prior President’s administration undermined innovation in self-custodial digital wallets and other on-chain technologies by asserting through regulatory actions that the developers of such software may be conducting brokerage activity. Engineers should not be subject to the federal securities laws solely for publishing this type of software code. As one court put it, it would be irrational to hold the developer of a self-driving car liable – here, quoting from the court’s decision – ‘for a third-party’s use of the car to commit a traffic violation or to rob a bank. In those circumstances, one would not sue the car company for facilitating the wrongdoing; they would sue the individual who committed the wrong.'” 

Atkins’ language represents a stark contrast to the approach of previous chair Gary Gensler, who oversaw high-profile enforcement actions against numerous crypto firms, including industry giants Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Ripple, Uniswap Labs and Consensys. Since Gensler stepped down in January, many of those cases have been closed.

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