SEC Chairman Testifies Before Congress: Focusing on Digital Asset Regulation, Investor Protection, Cost Reduction, and Promoting IPOs

Odaily News: On Wednesday, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins testified before the Congressional Financial Services Committee, outlining his priorities and emphasizing that the SEC will continue to focus on protecting investors, maintaining fair and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation, while balancing regulation between traditional markets and digital assets. Key points include:

1. Reducing Corporate Compliance Costs: Noted that public companies spend up to $2.7 billion annually on annual report disclosures, emphasizing the need to streamline, modernize, and focus on material information to make disclosures more useful and understandable.

2. Supporting IPOs and Capital Formation: Proposed three major initiatives—disclosure centered on material information, depoliticizing shareholder meetings, and providing litigation alternatives for companies—to encourage innovation and protect investors.

3. Advancing Digital Asset Regulation: The SEC is collaborating with the CFTC on Project Crypto to develop a token classification system and provide clear regulatory guidance, while considering exemptions for on-chain transactions and activities. Supports Congress in advancing the CLARITY Act to establish a federal framework for the crypto market.

4. Reviewing Traditional Regulatory Tools: Conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) system and has taken measures to reduce annual costs by approximately $92 million.

5. Strengthening Investor Protection and Enforcement: Returning to core mission, focusing on combating fraud, insider trading, financial misconduct, and cross-border manipulation. Established a cross-border enforcement task force and suspended trading of multiple Asia-Pacific issuer stocks to prevent manipulation.