Author: 0xLeoDeng , Partner and Head of Investments at LK Ventures

On December 4, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, in an interview with Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria,” put forward the vision that “the entire U.S. financial market may migrate to the blockchain within two years,” which sounded so radical that it even resembled science fiction.

But if we put aside our doubts about the timeline for now and consider this as a serious future scenario: if this really happened, how would the US economy be reshaped?

This is not a simple technological upgrade, but a complete formatting of the underlying operating system of finance. Here are seven layers of structural reshaping:

1. Market Structure: A "Light-Speed Machine" That Never Sleeps

The first thing to be perceived is the change in the market's heartbeat rhythm.

* The T+0 era will see extremely rapid capital turnover. The traditional T+1/T+2 settlement cycle will become history. Transactions will be settled immediately, and funds will almost never be tied up. This means that the velocity of money will increase significantly, and the cost of capital for the entire economy will be structurally compressed.

The demise of the "closing bell." Markets will operate 24/7, just like cryptocurrencies today. This also means that the transmission of emotions and volatility will no longer be physically interrupted. The buffer period of "closing the market after hours and talking about it tomorrow" is gone. Good news or black swan events from anywhere in the world will directly impact asset prices at millisecond speeds.

* SEC oversight has become "real-time surveillance." On-chain means absolute transparency. Who is building positions, who is naked short selling, and where liquidity is drying up—regulatory agencies no longer rely on lagging reports but directly monitor on-chain data. For manipulators, this is a nightmare; for the market, this is a new fairness brought about by "embedded regulation."

2. Banking Industry: From "Black Box" to "Glass Room"

The impact of blockchain technology on the commercial banking system is far more profound than on exchanges.

* The "semi-publicization" of balance sheets. When government bonds and credit assets are tokenized, regulators and the market can gain real-time insight into a bank's liquidity and collateral quality.

* Double-edged sword effect: Asset mismatch risks like those of SVB (Silicon Valley Bank) are easier to warn about in advance; but on the other hand, in a highly transparent world, the spread of fear has no resistance, and a "bank run" may happen more decisively and fatally.

* Collateralization: A company's accounts receivable, inventory, and even future cash flows can be transformed into standardized on-chain collateral through smart contracts. Financing efficiency will be unprecedentedly improved, but the regulatory focus must shift from simple "on-balance-sheet lending" to monitoring the intricate web of "programmable leverage" on the blockchain.

3. The Real Economy: A Revolution in the "Granularity" of Capital

This is perhaps an underestimated point—on-chain technology will bring about the "democratization of assets."

* "Mini-IPOs" for SMEs. Just as internet advertising allows small businesses to reach users, on-chain finance gives SMEs the opportunity to issue compliant "micro-securities." Financing will no longer be the privilege of giants; the capillaries of capital will penetrate into more grassroots economic sectors through blockchain.

* The release of liquidity in non-standard assets. Previously, only large institutions could afford to own an office building, a power plant, or even a patent. In the future, these assets will be fragmented, allowing global investors to purchase even a fraction of their value, much like buying stocks.

For the United States, this means that its existing assets will receive a huge "liquidity premium," attracting global funds to actively flow in.

4. Geopolitics: The "Digital Reinforcement" of the Dollar Hegemony

Many people mistakenly believe that "on-chain" means decentralization and the weakening of state power, but in fact, the opposite is true.

If the United States takes the lead in tokenizing its Treasury bonds and money market funds (MMFs), allowing global funds to purchase dollar assets at the lowest cost, fastest speed, and without any entry barriers, this will be the strongest moat protecting the dollar's hegemony.

In contrast, if regulation and infrastructure development in Eurasia fail to keep pace, capital will vote with its feet and flood into the more efficient and transparent on-chain dollar system. This is not a decline of the dollar, but a "generational upgrade of monetary infrastructure."

5. Risk Restructuring: Crises don't disappear, they only mutate.

The financial crisis in the blockchain era will take on a completely new look.

From "human panic" to "code glitches." Bugs in smart contracts, manipulation of oracles, collapse of cross-chain bridges, and the chain reaction of automated liquidation will become new sources of systemic risk.

* The "pressure cooker" effect of crises. Future crises will be more "technical" and more "condensed." They may erupt and end in minutes, rather than spreading for months like in 2008. Market rescue will no longer rely on "weekend meetings and negotiations," but on "data-driven decisions" and "code patching."

6. Winners and Losers: The Reshuffling of Niche Markets

Potential winners:
- Infrastructure builders: On-chain hosting, Distinguished ID (DID) and compliant oracle service providers.
- The next generation of investment banks: large asset management institutions that know how to match on-chain assets globally.
- Multi-skilled talent: a rare talent who understands both financial compliance and Solidity code.

Those experiencing growing pains during transformation:
Traditional intermediaries—clearing houses, transfer agents, and brokers who profit from information asymmetry—will be replaced by smart contracts if they do not revolutionize themselves.
- Gray industries: Any industry that relies on opaque and non-compliant fund transfers will have nowhere to hide under full-chain traceability supervision.

7. Realistic and Calm: The direction is certain; only the speed is variable.

Finally, let's return to reality. Completely achieving this within two years? Almost impossible.

The bottleneck of technological throughput, the lag in the legal framework, and the power struggle among vested interest groups are three major obstacles that cannot be overcome within 24 months.

A more likely path is gradual: starting with government bonds, the repurchase market, and some OTC derivatives, with the old and new systems running in parallel, and then slowly eroding the old world.

But regardless of the speed, the direction Paul Atkins points out is irreversible. This is not merely a technological iteration, but also an instinctive choice driven by capital's pursuit of greater efficiency. The future of the US financial market is destined to be on the blockchain.