#CryptoRoundTableRemarks Remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on Decentralized Finance

Paul S. Atkins, Chairman

Today’s roundtable is titled “DeFi and the American Spirit.” This is an apt title because the American values of economic liberty, private property rights, and innovation are in the DNA of the DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, movement

Blockchains, of course, are a very creative and potentially revolutionary innovation that have us rethinking evidence of ownership and transfer of intellectual and economic property rights.

Another core feature of blockchain technology is the ability for individuals to have self-custody of crypto assets in a personal digital wallet. The right to have self-custody of one’s private property is a foundational American value that should not disappear when one logs onto the internet. I am in favor of affording greater flexibility to market participants to self-custody crypto assets, especially where intermediation imposes unnecessary transaction costs or restricts the ability to engage in staking and other on-chain activities.

While the Commission and its staff work to propose fit-for-purpose rules of the road for on-chain financial markets, I have directed the staff to consider a conditional exemptive relief framework or “innovation exemption” that would expeditiously allow registrants and non-registrants to bring on-chain products and services to market. An innovation exemption could help fulfill President Trump’s vision to make America the “crypto capital of the planet”[5] by encouraging developers, entrepreneurs, and other firms that are willing to comply with to certain conditions to innovate with on-chain technologies in the United States. #BinanceSquareTalks