Today in crypto, the US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins commented on Project Crypto, proposing one regulatory framework for trading, lending and staking digital assets, analysts say the current negative market sentiment…
Today in crypto, the US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins commented on Project Crypto, proposing one regulatory framework for trading, lending and staking digital assets, analysts say the current negative market sentiment won’t last long, and US Senate Democrats unveiled a rival crypto market structure framework.
SEC chair says most tokens are not securities, backs “super-app” platforms
US SEC Chair Paul Atkins said that “most crypto tokens are not securities,” while outlining a sweeping plan to integrate crypto activities like trading, lending and staking under a unified regulatory framework.
“It is a new day at the SEC,” Atkins said during a keynote address at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Roundtable in Paris on Wednesday.
“Policy will no longer be set by ad hoc enforcement actions,” he added, contrasting the previous administration’s aggressive crackdown on crypto firms. “We will provide clear, predictable rules of the road so that innovators can thrive in the United States,” Atkins said.
Under the Project Crypto initiative, the SEC aims to modernize its securities regulations to accommodate blockchain-based financial markets. According to Atkins, the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets has already delivered a “bold blueprint” to support this mission.
The SEC’s updated strategy includes allowing platforms to operate as “super-apps” that can facilitate trading, lending and staking of digital assets under one regulatory umbrella. Atkins said that these platforms should also have the flexibility to offer multiple custody solutions.
Crypto traders’ current fear won’t last long, analysts say
Santiment said on Tuesday that crypto traders have swung into more negative sentiment and deeper fear, uncertainty, and doubt, but analysts tell Cointelegraph it’s likely only temporary.
Santiment said traders are “swinging more and more negative” as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) falls, but added markets often “move opposite to the crowd’s expectations,” so the last couple of weeks of fear “is an encouraging sign that this feared large retrace will never actually happen.”
Swyftx lead analyst Pav Hundal told Cointelegraph that all eyes are on the Fed’s meeting next week, with a cut of any kind possibly being “the next key catalyst for positivity.”
BTC Markets’ head of finance, Charlie Sherry, said trader sentiment tends to go to extremes in both directions. When traders lean heavily bearish, it can often mark the end of that move rather than the start.
Meanwhile, ZX Squared Capital co-founder and chief investment officer CK Zheng told Cointelegraph that September, on average, has historically been the “worst in terms of equity return. So people naturally tend to be more cautious.”
US Senate Democrats offer competing framework for crypto market structure
A group of Democratic US senators has released its own version of guidelines to influence legislation to establish a crypto market structure, focusing on taking time toward a “strong, bipartisan outcome.”
In a Tuesday notice, 12 Democratic senators, several of whom are on the banking committee, unveiled a framework for market structure legislation in response to Republicans’ plans.
Like the Republicans’ latest draft released on Sept. 5, the Democrats’ framework includes provisions for regulatory clarity and laying out rules by which the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) could handle digital assets.
“We owe it to the millions of Americans who participate in this market to create clear rules of the road that protect consumers and safeguard our markets,” the senators wrote. “We also must ensure that digital assets are not used to finance illicit activities or to line the pockets of politicians and their families.”
With Democrats in the minority in the Senate, it’s unclear whether Republicans will consider the framework recommendations as part of their plans to pass the bill out of the banking committee by October, out of the agriculture committee by November and into law by 2026.
Republican Senator Tim Scott, who chairs the banking committee, said in August that he expected “between 12 to 18” Democrats to back the majority’s version of the bill, titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
“Achieving a strong, bipartisan outcome will require time and cannot be rushed,” wrote the 12 Democrats. “We look forward to working on this with our Republican colleagues.”
