REGULATORY REVOLUTION: Atkins promises a new direction at the SEC

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:05]Welcome back. The Securities and Exchange Commission now considering changes to long-standing rules restricting how companies communicate during the IPO process. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins launching a sweeping new regulatory agenda called Make IPOs Great Again. It proposes transformative reforms to help public companies conduct registered offer offerings and simplify reporting requirements. The chairman also signaling support for creating clearer, simpler, and more technologyfriendly regulations around IPO communications. Joining me now is the man himself, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Paul Atkins is with me. Mr. Chairman, it's great to see you.

[00:00:41]>> Good to see you, Maria. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:43]>> And and I like the fact that you're modeling this around communications. Why is that the the issue here? And tell us about the current rules, how outdated they were, and how you're changing things. Well, today, Maria, we have about half the number of public companies as we had 30 years ago, for example. And so, the reason that is is because it's comfortable to stay private and and and not go into the public markets. So, we're looking at things, you know, from the bottom up and focusing on materiality of uh information and trying to get communicate that in uh you know, straightforwardly to investors so that they get what they need in order to make their investments and make their decisions. And so a lot of the our current rules are grounded in let's say 1930s 1940s processes and and that type of thinking and obviously communications have changed you know dramatically over almost 100 years. So what we want to do is go back to first principles focus on materiality and make the process of going public uh simpler and modernize it is the focus. Well, I remember during the Biden years and the Gary Gensler years, public company CEOs would say to me, I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous that we have to tell the SEC what our exposure is to climate change and not only that, but what our customers exposure is to climate change. There was it was all wrapped in this climate change agenda.

[00:02:07]>> Well, that was that's in the past administration, right? That's part of it. And so in fact today uh you know the I'm happy to say that the SEC has uh decided that we're putting out a proposal to withdraw the rule that was adopted by the SEC a couple years ago uh regarding uh climate change that exceeded our authority and focused on many uh immaterial uh types of disclosures that companies don't even do. We're not an environmental regulator. We need to stick to our knitting. let the environmental protection agency uh do their job and we stick to our job.

[00:02:44]>> No, that makes a lot of sense to me by the way. Okay. So, you've called it ACT framework, advance clarity and transform with crypto regulation, IPO activity, uh AIdriven finance, public company reporting, all under review. Talk to us about how you envision crypto regulation because the Senate Banking Committee obviously is is finally advancing. The House passed Clarity Act, setting up this key stable coin legislation for a full Senate vote. I just spoke with Jamie Diamond and u the chairman from JP Morgan says he's going to fight this.

[00:03:14]Okay. He says that delaying a proposed exemption allowing US crypto firms to trade tokenized assets tied to stocks.

[00:03:21]The SEC delaying approval of ETFs that would give retail investors exposure to prediction markets as well. Those contracts tied to events like elections and recessions and layoffs etc. Tell us about that. What do you envision in terms of the framework of regulation first when it comes to crypto? Well, so >> or digital assets is a better word just to use. I think >> that's that's a better word. I agree with that. But uh so we are uh focused on providing clarity to the marketplace.

[00:03:47]This is a quickly evolving type of technology and there clearly is investor interest. But it has huge benefits I think potentially for the financial uh services industry and the markets as a whole because it'll make things the the distributed ledger technology the blockchain makes uh transactions much more certain. You know we have the prospect of maybe immediate uh uh clearance and and settlement of transactions on chain. So that's a little uh you know in the weeds but but little things like that can do a lot to help uh the marketplace have more stability and confidence from for buying and selling securities. But with respect to various products uh we are working and collaborating with our sister agency the commodity futures trading commission. We've come out with an interpretative release that divides the world and and gives clarity to the marketplace as to what's a security, a tokenized security and then what is uh a digital commodity. And so we've we've taken that step and that's uh that's been a very important step. We're looking and have I have confidence that Congress will uh adopt the uh clarity act and that the president will be able to sign it and that'll give us a statutory basis upon which uh we can operate and and then again allow the marketplace to uh innovate and do that here onshore as the president has basically uh you know challenged uh us to do is to we've chased a lot of these products offshore um to for people to try to innovate, but uh we need to do it in America under American law so that investors have the confidence and the protections of that.

[00:05:32]>> Yeah, we're in a race with China and other nations on so many things. So, when are you expecting that we'll see a final framework in terms of um uh tokenization of stocks, bonds, uh and other assets. Everyone I speak with about this says yes, they believe every market will be tokenized. Well, I think it's just a natural outgrowth of uh of uh innovation um with respect to we've seen it from the abacus all the way till now uh you know over centuries and this is just a natural outgrowth but again I think the prospect of having uh onchain uh payment versus delivery delivery versus payment is a real uh you know a real innovation that will help uh stabilize our marketplace so that there's no more uh gaps uh that uh create uncertainty between the buying and selling of of securities and other products.

[00:06:23]>> Do you believe that America is in fact the global center for crypto finance right now or is it somewhere else?

[00:06:29]>> No, I think why we we certainly are and so we need to make sure that it it stays that way. The the president has again he wants uh the United States to be the crypto capital of the world. We're making huge strides I think to do that.

[00:06:43]But that requires clarity because as you know America is a latigious uh uh society and so uh you know where there's uncertainty and if lawyers cannot give their clients uh certainty with respect to you know is this legal or not and under which uh rule book do you have to uh take your products to market that creates needless cost and then it it's a big impediment for people to go forward.

[00:07:08]I I've always or for a very long time felt that um financial information is so critical for investors and you know the financial information really I think starts at home. I mean very basic things I mean the Treasury Department is launching these Trump accounts and the app goes live today on app stores nationwide advancing this policy to create millions of investment accounts for children. Tell us about that because this falls right into what you're trying to do as well in terms of educating people, ensuring that people have the right information and do invest in in in public markets but in a safe way. But this is a historic opportunity for the next generation, is it not?

[00:07:46]>> It is. I think it's very exciting. It's a great idea uh whose time has come and what we need to do is to encourage young people to save and invest. Everywhere I go in the world, Japan, Europe, uh the UK and elsewhere, I'm always asked by my counterparts in the government like how can we uh have a sense of investment like the United States has? And you know, America was an investment before it was a nation. Uh because there were public companies that raised money to put people in wooden boats and then sail across the Atlantic. And if they got here, they had to start from scratch. So there's that entrepreneurial spirit that is imbued in Americans. And so this is a way to get it into this new uh generation. And I just was uh out here in California at Camp Pendleton speaking to about 200 uh new uh newly recruited Marines. And I love that you did that.

[00:08:41]It was great. And they had great questions. But again, this is, you know, they want to I don't want them to be taken by, you know, fast-talking salesmen or people who will take their money and run or nor should they put all their eggs in one basket and then they they wind up getting broken. So, they need to learn the the basics of uh investing and that is diversification.

[00:09:03]Understand what you're putting your money into and then save for the long term. Slow and steady wins the race.

[00:09:09]That's right. Not uh you know any flash in the pan.

[00:09:11]>> I love that. And that is why I always talk about the fact that this short- termism is just not good. It's not the way people invest. You want to have a a a firm plan for the long term. Safe investing and saving. Mr. Chairman, you're going to be speaking here at at the summit at 8 a.m. this morning. Can you give us a preview? What's what's the focus of your remarks today?

[00:09:31]>> Well, it's it's great here uh to to be here at the the Reagan Library. And you know, President Reagan was very sunny and uh he was focused on the magic of the marketplace and how that would transform the United States. And so similarly, he was taking over after a time where uh there was uh you know the the markets were uh very depressed. And so the um so here it's a similar type of thing. the the President Trump has come into office and challenged us to create, you know, a new day in America basically as as Reagan did. We're doing that at SEC as well. a new day at the SEC focused on reforming our processes to reinvigorate the marketplace because after all nothing else uh in human history um than the capital markets have lifted more people out of poverty have widened paths to opportunity and solved so many of the most intractable problems that uh we have in the >> Mr. Before you go real quick on prediction markets, what should we expect in terms of the framework there?

[00:10:35]Because I don't know if Reagan would have even predicted that we're seeing this wild and very uh, you know, voluminous market for predictions.

[00:10:44]>> Yeah. Well, so that's another area that we have to be careful with. I mean, it's rapidly changing and so we're working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to uh to focus on this. much of that is in their jurisdiction rather than the SEC, but there many novel products that will be that are securities. So, we're focused on that and to make sure that investors uh are protected, that they get the information that they need uh and that we police for market manipulation and that sort of thing in these fastm moving products. I mean, thank you for that because that's an opportunity where you say, "Okay, well, I wasn't expecting to do something like this, but this is a market and it's alive and it's happening and people are betting or, you know, making predictions on just about everything."

[00:11:32]>> Yes, that's right.

[00:11:33]>> Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for your leadership.

[00:11:35]>> Well, thank you, Maria. It's great to see you here with in this beautiful library. It >> sure is good to see you, Chairman Paul Atkins. We'll be right back. Stay with us.