U.S. SEC chairperson Paul Atkins rang the NYSE bell on Tuesday, December 2, sharing his vision of making America the hotspot for IPOs in the near future. Following his visit to the NYSE office, Atkins sat for an interview with CNBC during which he talked on the ongoing work around crypto regulations. He hinted that in 2026, the U.S. plans to release an “innovation exception” policy targeted at attracting crypto players to explore Web3 innovation within the U.S in the next few weeks.
Atkins said that the SEC is working with the Congress in providing “technical assistance” around the ongoing crypto policy work. He could be pointing at the crypto market structure bill that is being restructured to fit the U.S. crypto market.
“I’m looking forward to having an innovation exemption that we’ve been talking about now. We’ll be able to get that out in a month or so, is what I’m hoping,” the SEC chief noted.
The SEC has been working on the “innovation exemption” regulation since earlier this year.
In September, Atkins had said that this rule would be spotlighted by the end of 2025. At the time, he had explained that the rule would allow crypto firms temporary relief from older securities rules. Essentially, the SEC is aiming to let crypto firms launch new services under a lenient SEC oversight.
The last two months, however, emerged to be harshly challenging for the U.S. government as it underwent its largest shutdown in history. After the Congress failed to agree on and pass fresh funding bills, the U.S. government entered the shutdown phase on October 1 leaving around 1.4 million federal employees without pay. The 43-day long shutdown finally ended on November 12.
Atkins acknowledged that the policy work did take a backseat owing to the government shutdown.
“We couldn’t to work on things during that time, but we’re on track, and we will be able to forge forward with a crypto area and make sure that we are able to embrace this new area of innovation that for too long, the United States basically has just pushed back against,” Atkins added.
Meanwhile, at the NYSE, Atkins said under President Donald Trump the U.S. wishes to make “IPOs great again” by lightening public disclosure requirements for smaller and yonder firms.