#CryptoRoundTableRemarks
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🏛️ SEC’s Regulatory Direction
Chair Paul Atkins emphasized the importance of self-custody as a fundamental American value. He reaffirmed that individuals should have the flexibility to self-custody assets, particularly when intermediaries add cost or limit activities like staking .
Atkins also revealed that the SEC staff are actively working on an “innovation exemption” to help DeFi projects launch on-chain services more efficiently under tailored rules .
He clarified that simply creating or publishing code should not subject developers to securities law liability .
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💡 DeFi Panel Highlights
Participants and panelists brought attention to several critical areas to shape a balanced regulatory framework:
1. Function over Form: The focus should be on activities, not software per se. Regulations should target economic behaviors—like lending, trading, staking—regardless of whether they occur via code or intermediaries .
2. Off‑chain transparency: Disclosure obligations should include off-chain agreements (e.g., market-maker deals) that could impact DeFi activity .
3. Risk taxonomy: The SEC and industry should catalog and mitigate three main risk types: cybersecurity, systemic operational risk, and illicit finance .
4. Modular regulation: With blockchains becoming more modular and interoperable, regulators should identify and delineate points of control and vulnerability .
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🔎 Broader Implications
This closes out the SEC’s five-roundtable series from spring, marking a shift away from a purely enforcement-driven stance .
Under Atkins’s leadership, the SEC is leaning toward constructive frameworks, potentially offering carve-outs for DeFi innovation while enhancing investor protection .
The approach signals the SEC’s intent to collaborate with the CFTC, Congress, and the industry to build a crypto regulatory environment that works for both innovation and stability .
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✅ What This Means for You
Stakeholder Impact
DeFi devs Reduced legal risk for writing code—focus
