Us Financial Markets ‘poised To Move On-chain’ Amid Dtcc...

In comments Thursday, SEC Chair Paul Atkins doubled down on his vision for tokenized US financial markets and onchain settlement.

Traditional financial markets are moving rapidly onchain as the US Securities and Exchange Commission chair doubled down on the idea of an “innovation exemption” to accelerate tokenization.

“U.S. financial markets are poised to move on-chain,” wrote Paul Atkins, chair of the SEC, in a Friday X post, adding that the agency is “embracing new technologies to enable this onchain future.”

His comments come shortly after the SEC issued a “no action” letter to a subsidiary of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), enabling it to offer a new securities market tokenization service.

The DTCC plans to tokenize assets, including the Russell 1000 index, exchange-traded funds tracking major indexes and US Treasury bills and bonds, which Atkins called an “important step towards onchain capital markets.”

“On-chain markets will bring greater predictability, transparency, and efficiency for investors,” he said.

However, the green light for the DTCC’s pilot is only the beginning, as the SEC will consider an innovation exemption to enable builders to start “transitioning our markets onchain,” without being burdened by “cumbersome regulatory requirements,” added Atkins.

Atkins pledged to encourage innovation as the industry moves toward onchain settlement, which would mean settling transactions on a blockchain ledger, removing intermediaries, enabling 24/7 trading and faster transaction finality.

Related: Crypto nears its ‘Netscape moment’ as industry approaches inflection point

Cointelegraph has contacted the SEC for comment on the details and timeline of an innovation exemption for tokenization.

Source: CoinTelegraph