Digital Press Briefing: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins

MODERATOR: Good afternoon from the State Department's Brussels Media Hub. I would like to welcome everyone joining us for today's virtual press briefing. Today we are extremely honored to be joined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins.

A reminder that today's briefing is on the record. With that, let's get started.

Chairman Atkins, thank you so much for joining us today. I'll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Well, thank you very much, Bridget. And hello, everyone. Thanks for joining me this afternoon your time. I look forward to answering your questions ahead of my first international trip as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but first I thought I'd take a few moments to preview some of the priorities that will guide my engagements.

Next week I'll address the OECD's Inaugural Roundtable on Global Financial Markets. I intend to outline the ways in which we can work together to encourage global competition and to promote economic growth in our respective jurisdictions. In that spirit, my meetings in the UK and Europe will be an opportunity not only to advance the SEC's priorities but also to deepen the bonds of cooperation with some of our closest partners.

As many of you know, I take great pride in reporting that it is a new day at the SEC, where we are returning to our core mandate of protecting investors; maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitating capital formation. These pillars of the agency's mission find expression in our work to attract foreign companies to U.S. markets and to provide Americans with opportunity to invest in those companies while ensuring that the U.S. and foreign firms experience a level playing field.

So in one of my first initiatives as chairman, I advanced the issuance of a concept release to gather public feedback on whether the SEC's current standard for extending special accommodations to foreign companies should be updated to reflect the evolution in financial markets and corporate legal structures.

Among the notable changes in recent decades are the makeup of foreign companies reporting to the SEC and the trend of incorporating in a jurisdiction such as the Cayman Islands that differs from where the company is headquartered. Retrospective review of our rules to evaluate whether they continue to achieve their intended policy goals is one of the hallmarks of an effective regulatory agenda, and I look forward to reviewing public feedback on this topic upon the comment due date.

As we look with fresh eyes at the types of foreign issuers that receive special accommodations, we should also not lose sight of the bedrock beneath any effective regulatory regime, and that is high-quality accounting standards and financial materiality. As Europe seeks to promote its capital markets by attracting more companies and investment, I will discuss the need to focus on reducing unnecessary reporting burdens on issuers rather than pursuing ends that are unrelated to the economic success of companies and to the well-being of their shareholders.

Now as we call on our partners to foster investor confidence and dynamic markets in their jurisdictions, these same priorities compel us in the United States to unleash the potential of digital assets in ours. For too long the SEC has weaponized its investigatory, subpoena, and enforcement authorities to subvert the crypto markets. That approach was not only ineffective but injurious.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, it's a new day at the SEC. Policy will no longer be set by ad hoc enforcement actions. And through the agency's Project Crypto initiative we will provide clear, predictable rules of the road so that innovators can thrive in the United States. Whether through tokenized stock ledgers or entirely new asset classes, we want breakthroughs to be made in America's markets under American oversight for the benefit of American investors.

Of course, as I will note next week in Europe, these priorities can reach their fullest potentials when we work strategically with international partners who share our commitment to innovation and to regulatory clarity. Markets prosper when capital flows freely to its most productive uses. And public blockchains - inherently global - offer a rare chance to modernize the foundation of payments and capital markets. By working together to facilitate more innovative markets, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe can strengthen our domestic economies while reinforcing our transatlantic partnership.

Finally, just as blockchain is reshaping how we trade and settle assets, artificial intelligence is opening the door to Agentic finance, a system whereby autonomous AI agents execute trades, allocate capital, and manage risk at speeds no human can match with securities law compliance embedded in its code. The government's responsibility here is to ensure that common-sense guardrails are in place while clearing the way - while clearing away regulatory obstructions that stifle innovation.

AI is now part of our capital markets and its role will only grow. We must resist the temptation to overreact out of fear, and the choice before us is simply yet profound: Either America steps forward with confidence and conviction, or others will. I choose leadership, freedom, and growth for our markets, for our economy, and for the next generation. I am eager to work with international counterparts who are interested in joining us in this pursuit for a more prosperous and free society.

So in closing, we're at - we are working at a pace to realign SEC's enduring principles with emergent possibilities. I am confident that international cooperation in the regulatory matters I've mentioned today and will discuss in greater detail next week will benefit all of us in the long run across the United States and around the globe. I look forward to engaging in this work together with our international partners and with a resolve worthy of opportunities before us.

Now it would be my pleasure to take your questions for the remainder of our time together. Thank you very much for your attention and look forward to chatting here. Thanks.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Chairman Atkins. We will now turn to the question-and-answer portion of today's briefing. So I'll get us started with a question that we received directly through - from several of our media contacts: "How is digital innovation such as AI, blockchain, and Fintech reshaping the U.S. regulatory landscape, and what implications does this have for global financial institutions?"

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Well, that's a great question. And so right now - I don't know if you all have been following it, but in Congress there are a number of bills that are under discussion and will be renewed discussion here and perhaps legislative action this autumn. A few weeks ago there was a statute that was enacted called the GENIUS Act, which was - which is aimed at stablecoins. And so that's the first time that the United States Congress and the President have acknowledged through statutory action a particular part of the digital assets landscape.

And so stablecoins are - that's an important first step that - the stablecoins are regulated by our banking agencies, the Fed and the Comptroller's Office, Comptroller of the Currency, and others. So they will be the main movers there, but obviously that sets a really good framework for us at the SEC to approach other parts of the digital asset landscape. So we've been working hard at that since earlier this year, and we'll be coming out with more actions as the months progress.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. We've got a question in the queue from Kathryn Carlson. Kathryn, would you like to ask the question yourself? I'm happy to read it as well: "Can you detail which bilateral meetings you will have in Europe and the agenda for those meetings?"

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Well, it's a pretty hectic schedule. It's like a whistlestop tour, we say in English. You're going from city to city, and so about a different city every day. So London and Paris and Brussels and Frankfurt. And so there are several meetings. I'm meeting with, obviously, our ambassadors but then with my counterparts in those various jurisdictions, and then obviously will be talking to the press and what not. So I look forward to a full and hectic week to make that journey across the Atlantic very worthwhile for the agency here and to be able to discuss our priorities with my counterparts and make sure that we're in sync.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. We've got time for another one or two questions.

Oh, another question - thank you, Kathryn from Politico EU: "Are there EU regulatory initiatives that you plan to address during the visit? And what will be your positions on those initiatives?"

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Well, one of the prime ones is the discussions in the European Community about the capital markets initiative that is going on now. And so we'll be discussing that, I think, in detail with my counterparts. And we want to collaborate because I think deep capital markets is a key to a very vibrant economic sector, because obviously companies need capital to develop their new products and to service their customers and provide the - what the market is demanding. So that's - obviously, we have very deep and successful capital markets here in the U.S., and to have a vibrant European capital market, which the Europeans have been striving now for decades to try to achieve, and it's - we want to help where we can.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. The next question, also from Politico, is: "The U.S. has just conducted a review of its membership in international organizations, including global financial standard-setters. Does the United States seek to redefine its relationship with standard-setters like the IOSCO, FSB, and BIS?"

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Well, so we are still - obviously, we're members of those organizations, and we are constant - we're still active, obviously, in them. And in fact, I will be participating in FSB meetings - one while I'm in Europe, and another at the end of September in Basel. So that's a key relationship. I've designated one of my colleagues, Commissioner Mark Uyeda, to kind of be our point with respect to IOSCO, and I'll be meeting with Chairman Servais in Brussels the end of next week, and so I look forward to seeing him there. And so IOSCO is a key component of our international strategy here at the U.S. - here at the SEC. So look forward to helping push that forward.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. Our next question from - comes from an Italian radio station, Radio Radicale, from David Carretta: "What do you think of the digital euro project? Could it be an obstacle to the stablecoin expansion?"

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: No. Well, so I'm not so familiar with that project, but I think that stablecoins and digital currencies can be a great aid to international commerce. And obviously, that's why the Congress enacted the GENIUS Act that I mentioned before. And so I think that these innovations have a lot of positive aspects for derisking of the - to lower the risk level in international transactions, to make them more speedy, to make them more effective. So I think I welcome innovation like that. I don't think any of these are a threat to anyone else. I think it's all for the better.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. We have time for one more question. We'll give about one minute here.

Okay. With that, we'll close out today's event. Thank you for your questions. And thank you, Chairman Atkins, for joining us.

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: Thank you.

MODERATOR: Before we close the call, I'd like to hand back over to you if you have any final remarks you'd like to share with the group before you head out for your trip.

CHAIRMAN ATKINS: No, I think - well, thank you for your questions, and thank you for your attention, and I look forward to - if you have other ones next week, I look forward to interacting with you all over in Europe. So same time zone. (Laughter.) So anyway, I hope you all have a good weekend, and we'll hopefully interact next week. Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Chairman. Thank you. And I want to point out just a few points before we close today. If any of the journalists on the line today have questions for the chairman while he's on the road, there is an email, an sec.gov email, on the media advisory, and we urge you to reach out to the chairman and his traveling team. Shortly we'll be sending you all an audio recording of the briefing, and we will provide a transcript as soon as it is available. We'd love to hear feedback, and you can contact us anytime at [email protected].

Thank you again for your participation today, and we hope you can join us again for another press briefing soon. Chairman and your team, we wish you a very productive trip, and we hope to see you back again soon at the Brussels Hub. Thank you again for sharing your time with us. This ends today's press briefing.