PANews reported on February 19th that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website published Chairman Paul Atkins' speech at the ETHDenver conference, which outlined the agency's regulatory signals regarding cryptocurrencies, including:

1. Clarify the “Investment Contract” Framework: The committee will study and publish a framework that clarifies under what circumstances crypto assets constitute investment contracts, as well as their formation and termination mechanisms.

2. Innovation Exemption: Consider establishing an innovation exemption to allow pilot trading of certain tokenized securities under restricted conditions, including limited trading on new platforms such as automated market makers, to accumulate experience for a long-term regulatory framework.

3. Advancement of Rules and Guidelines: The plan is to initiate or advance the formulation of rules on issues such as crypto asset financing paths, broker custody of non-securities crypto assets (including payment stablecoins), and modernization of transfer agency rules; and to continue to provide clarity for scenarios that do not require registration, such as wallets and user interfaces, through no-action letters and exemption orders.

4. Regulatory Philosophy: Paul Atkins emphasizes that regulators should not react to short-term price fluctuations. The responsibility of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is to ensure adequate information disclosure and clear rules, allowing market participants to make decisions in a transparent environment, rather than "protecting prices".

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-peirce-021826-number-go-down-other-schadenfreude