U.S. SEC Chairman: Tokenized securities are still subject to securities laws, and distributed ledger technology has many potential benefits for the financial industry

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, stated during his appearance on the All-In Podcast, "From my perspective, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has many potential benefits for the financial services industry, and we are at a tipping point where T+0 settlement—meaning almost instantaneous delivery and payment, even through on-chain digital assets—could be achieved. This is very exciting. To prevent issues like fraud, we may even need to set up some speed bumps. However, there are also challenges, such as liquidity issues. What does the concept of the best bid and ask mean in this new system? This is one of the problems we need to solve. Our principle is: if an asset is essentially a security, even if it is tokenized, it is still a security, and federal securities laws still apply. But regulators have a responsibility to ensure that our rules truly apply to new practical uses. As trading purposes and delivery methods change, we also need to make corresponding adjustments. We need to adjust the system to make it truly applicable to the new technological environment. This is exactly what we are working on right now—reviewing our regulatory rules line by line to ensure they can adapt to the development of emerging technologies. The SEC is coordinating regulation with the CFTC. For example, if an asset is a tokenized security, it falls under the SEC's regulatory framework; if it is a digital currency, digital token, digital tool, or digital collectible, it falls under the CFTC's regulatory scope."