Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins has an expansive agenda that will hinge in huge part on Congress. We sat down this week to discuss what that will look like and a whole lot more.
This isn’t Atkins’ first time serving at the SEC. He was first appointed as a commissioner during the George W. Bush administration.
But the world of financial regulation and the border economy has significantly changed since Atkins left the public sector in 2008. And the SEC is poised to transform in some dramatic ways during the 119th Congress, if lawmakers successfully enact changes to federal financial market structure.
Atkins says he’s ready to make those changes a reality – even the ones that pull back some of the SEC’s oversight of crypto and hands new authorities to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“We’re not the Securities and Everything Commission,” Atkins said. “We have to kind of figure that we are bound by the law and by the statute. That gives us jurisdiction, but not everything is a security.”
Speaking of CFTC: Washington financial policy circles are aflutter with speculation about who will lead the commodities regulator since original Trump administration nominee Brian Quintenz has stalled out.
Atkins wants to make clear that, despite some recent reports that his name has been considered as CFTC chair, he is not interested. (In fairness, it wouldn’t be the first time the Trump administration asked its officials to wear multiple, big hats.)
“Thanks but no thanks,” Atkins told us. “The real issue is harmonization of the CFTC and SEC as a way forward, and not a merger.”
Crypto corner. Atkins said SEC staff was working closely with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on the second tranche of major legislative changes to financial markets requested by the crypto sector.
To review: Market structure changes will empower the CFTC to regulate “digital commodities” and their spot markets. The SEC would be given oversight of “investment contract assets,” which would be separate from an investment contract under existing law.
This push is significant and a little controversial. Atkins argued the changes were necessary, thanks in part to gripes over the Howey test. That’s a judicial principle dating back to the 1940s that guides when and whether securities law should apply to investments.
Atkins — along with much of the crypto world — doesn’t care much for Howey. “The Howey test is very vague. Its ‘you know it when you see it’ is kind of the problem. Hopefully, if Congress can provide some guidance there, that would be very helpful,” the SEC chair said.
We asked Atkins how he was feeling about the timing of market structure reforms as Capitol Hill becomes increasingly concerned this push will shift to 2026. The SEC pointed to the White House:
Public makeover. Atkins’ SEC is making a host of changes to the requirements for being a public company in the United States. That includes fewer limits on when companies can force their shareholders into mandatory arbitration.
“My real goal, frankly, is to make it cool to be a public company again. To make IPOs great again is what I like to say, because right now, it’s not,” Atkins said.
The push grabbing headlines most recently is the demise of quarterly reporting requirements. Lawmakers aren’t fully sold on the idea, which has percolated for years. Atkins has said the SEC will propose a rulemaking here.
Atkins pushed back on fears of a transparency crackdown. “I don’t think anyone’s contemplating saying, thou shalt not do 10-K,” the SEC chair said, referring to annual reports.
More from Atkins:
One last thing. We asked the SEC chair whether federal agencies needed an assist from Congress when it comes to foreign company investments and disclosure. China’s accounting practices have been a particular focus for Washington in recent years.
For now, Atkins is taking a rain check.
“We’ll see. We’re going through a kind of fishing exercise out there to get comments,” Atkins said. “We’ll take an evaluation and see if we do need additional authority from Congress. But we’re actively looking at this.”
