Author: Written by: Oliver, Mars Finance

In the ever-changing world of investment, the real opportunities are often not hidden in the noisy K-lines of the market, but hidden under the seemingly boring policy texts in Washington. When the regulatory giant changes its course, the ripples it stirs up are enough to define the flow of wealth in the next few years. Recently, the speech of Atkins, the new chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), at a conference on "DeFi and the American Spirit" is just such a "treasure map" worth reading over and over again.

The influence of this conference quickly fermented, so much so that Binance founder CZ (Changpeng Zhao) publicly stated on social media: "June 9 will be remembered as DeFi Day." This assertion gave the entire event a historic footnote. Industry observers also keenly captured the unusual atmosphere in the air and believed that a new round of "DeFi Summer" (decentralized financial summer) may be ready to go. This is not groundless. Looking back at the passionate summer of 2020, DeFi grew wildly in the regulatory vacuum and created countless legends. Now, Atkins' speech seems to be paving the way for a more compliant, more powerful "DeFi Summer" that may be jointly participated by institutions and retail investors.

This is not just an ordinary official statement, but a profound reflection and systematic revision of the "enforcement priority" regulatory philosophy of the Gensler era. In this new regulatory blueprint, we can follow the map and discover three "wealth codes" that are enough to reshape the industry landscape and ignite the summer fire. Now, let us unravel the deep meaning behind this.

The market is moving: DeFi sector responds positively

After the details of Chairman Atkins' speech were disclosed, the capital market quickly gave the most direct and candid feedback. The mainstream DeFi protocol tokens rose in response, forming a beautiful landscape, as if collectively cheering for the arrival of this new regulatory trend.

According to market data, blue-chip projects in the DeFi field have all recorded significant gains. Decentralized lending giant Aave (AAVE) and top decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) have both soared by more than 13%, and Chainlink (LINK), the industry infrastructure oracle leader, has also risen by nearly 6%. In addition, liquidity pledge protocol Jito (JITOSOL) and Ondo Finance (ONDO), which focuses on real-world assets (RWA), have also risen by more than 5%.

This set of data is not a coincidence, it accurately confirms the value of the three "wealth codes" we are about to interpret. The market's reaction logic is clear: the strong rebound of AAVE and UNI represents the capital's recognition of the prospects of DeFi core applications after the regulation becomes clear; the rise of LINK shows that the market is optimistic about the revaluation of the entire infrastructure layer; and the rise of Jito and Ondo respectively corresponds to the huge potential of the Staking ecosystem under "autonomous custody" and the RWA track in the "Innovation Sandbox". It can be said that the market has used real money to cast a vote of confidence in the positive impact of Atkins' new policy.

The first wealth code: the "innocence" of code - the soil for recreating the big explosion of innovation

In Atkins' speech, the first and most core code is hidden in his new definition of developer responsibility. He used a brilliant analogy: "It is irrational to hold the developers of self-driving cars responsible for third parties using the cars to violate traffic rules or rob banks." Behind this sentence is the official coronation of the principle of "code neutrality".

This is the fundamental premise for the DeFi summer of 2020 to explode - "permissionless innovation". Developers back then were free to release experimental protocols without worrying about being held accountable for potential abuse of the code. However, the Gensler era, marked by the Tornado Cash incident, brought this spirit of free innovation to an abrupt end, and the developer community was in danger.

Atkins's argument accurately dispelled the alarm for this innovative soil. He clearly shifted the subject of responsibility from the "creators" of the tools to the "users", which is a strong defense of the cornerstone of the open source world, "code is speech". When the focus of supervision shifts from reviewing code to tracing evil deeds, the underlying logic of the entire industry becomes clear, and an environment that allows developers to boldly experiment and iterate quickly is returning.

This ray of wealth first illuminates the infrastructure tracks that pave the way for the crypto world. Whether it is the public chains of Layer 1 and Layer 2, or the teams that provide development kits (SDKs), the largest negative variable in their valuation models has been removed. At the same time, it opens up space for value repair in the decentralized privacy track. When the neutrality of technology is recognized and "privacy" is no longer equated with "original sin", the market will re-evaluate those privacy projects that have solid technology and are committed to protecting the legitimate rights of users. This is undoubtedly a declaration that the certainty of investing in infrastructure and developer ecology has reached an unprecedented level.

The second wealth code: the "return" of property rights - the core engine that triggers liquidity

If the first password liberates productivity, then the second password provides the core fuel for detonating liquidity. Atkins emphasized that "the right to self-manage private property is one of the fundamental values of the United States, and this right should not disappear just because people log on to the Internet." This sentence is a royal certification of the concept of "self-custody" in the crypto world.

In the summer of DeFi in 2020, the core gameplay is yield farming, where users pledge and lend their assets in various protocols to obtain returns. All of this is based on the user's absolute control over their own assets. However, the crackdown on centralized staking services in the Gensler era once cast a shadow on the compliance of this model.

Atkins' speech was a thorough declaration of "return of property rights". He shifted the focus of the narrative from the platform's "services" to the user's "rights", and explicitly supported users to directly participate in on-chain financial activities through their personal wallets. This is not only a technical recognition, but also a confirmation of the sanctity of the golden rule of the crypto world, "Not your keys, not your coins", from the height of the core values of the United States.

This password unlocks an extremely large ecosystem of Staking and its derivatives. The legitimacy of the business model of the Liquidity Staking Protocol (LSD) represented by Lido and the Restaking track centered on EigenLayer has been fundamentally guaranteed. Previously, the market's biggest doubts about it (whether it would be characterized as an unregistered security) have basically disappeared, which has opened the door for them to trillion-level asset allocations of mainstream financial institutions. At the same time, the strategic value of all wallet service providers has been greatly enhanced, and they are becoming the "super application" entrance to the next generation of the Internet.

The third wealth code: the "sandbox" of innovation - the official incubator for the birth of new species

After clarifying the two fundamental issues of "code innocence" and "property sanctity", Atkins gave the third and most constructive code - the establishment of an "Innovation Exemption" framework. This marks that the SEC's regulatory thinking is shifting from "passive defense" and "after-the-fact strike" to "active guidance" and "pre-planning".

The DeFi summer of 2020 witnessed the "Cambrian Explosion" of countless new species (such as AMM DEX, decentralized lending, and algorithmic stablecoins). However, this explosion took place in a wild and unregulated land. Atkins' "Innovation Sandbox" attempts to provide an officially certified and safer "incubator" for the next species explosion.

This is a wise art of regulation. It recognizes that using the laws of the last century to rigidly apply to the ever-changing digital finance is itself a kind of cutting one's feet to fit the shoes. Therefore, under the premise of maintaining the core bottom line of "anti-fraud", giving new things a space for trial and error, iteration and growth in the real market environment has become an inevitable choice.

This password has opened up a new testing ground for all entrepreneurs with dreams and investors with a discerning eye. Whether they are pioneers committed to tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) such as real estate and bonds, or dreamers who envision a decentralized social future, they all have a predictable "green channel" to quickly verify their ideas. For venture capital firms (VCs) and early investors, this means that the biggest systemic risk in the portfolio - the risk of regulatory mutation - has been greatly reduced.

Future Outlook: Prelude to “DeFi Summer 2.0”

Chairman Atkins' speech is like a key that opens the door for us to understand the SEC's new policy. These three "wealth codes" - code immunity, the return of property rights, and the sandbox of innovation - are closely linked to each other and jointly build a new regulatory paradigm that is clearer, friendlier, and more dynamic.

If the DeFi summer of 2020 was a grassroots carnival driven by geeks and adventurers, then Atkins' new policy may herald a "DeFi Summer 2.0" jointly participated by developers, retail investors and Wall Street giants. It will no longer be a wild growth, but an orderly prosperity under clear rules.

This is not only about the short-term benefits of several tracks, but also a profound long-term revaluation. It indicates that the United States is reshaping its leadership in the global crypto economy with a more confident and open attitude. For everyone in this industry, reading these signals and turning them into profound cognition may be the key to crossing the bull and bear markets and grasping the pulse of the next era. The gears of history have begun to turn, and a new chapter of more mature and prosperous encryption is slowly unfolding.