'You ain't seen nothing yet," SEC Chair Atkins signals quick action on crypto priorities in the new year

"You ain't seen nothing yet," said Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins as the agency faces a list of cryptocurrency-related priorities in the new year.

"As far as next year, all the seeds that we've planted will be able to start seeding and sprouting," Atkins said on Tuesday at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit in Washington, DC, referring to the many proposals that have crossed his desk. "Then we'll be able to harvest the fruit." 

Atkins has an ambitious agenda in an effort to clarify the agency's crypto stance. Last month, the newly appointed chair unveiled plans for a "token taxonomy" to delineate between what cryptocurrencies would be securities. He has also embarked on "Project Crypto" to update the SEC's rules around digital assets and is pushing an "innovation exemption" to fast-track crypto products. 

This supportive regulatory path is in stark contrast to former SEC Chair Gary Gensler's approach to crypto. Under Gensler's chairmanship during the Biden administration, the securities watchdog looked askance at crypto and brought several cases against large crypto firms under the theory that most tokens were securities, while being criticized for "regulation by enforcement."

Regulation by regulation?

When asked by The Block, Atkins said one of the first priorities in the new year will be an "innovation exemption" for crypto and fintech projects, a proposed conditional and time-limited regulatory relief framework meant to lower compliance costs and foster experimentation. "I hope in about a month or so, towards the end of January, we'll be able to get that out," he said. 

As for a taxonomy, he turned to Capitol Hill. 

Lawmakers are working to pass a bill to regulate crypto at large by, in part, allocating jurisdiction between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. They are now barreling to advance the bill in the Senate with hopes to move it past a key Senate Banking Committee before the end of the year, but talks seem shaky, The Block previously reported.

"We'll see what Congress comes up with by then," Atkins said.