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<\/p>\nEric Conner, a outstanding Ethereum determine who helped design the community\u2019s landmark fee-market overhaul EIP-1559 and lately left the ecosystem to work in synthetic intelligence, mentioned late Thursday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s new coverage path quantities to a dramatic tailwind for Ether. \u201cThe SEC just lit a rocket under Ethereum,\u201d Conner wrote<\/a> on X on July 31, reacting to a coverage tackle delivered hours earlier by SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins in Washington. Conner characterised the remarks as a \u201cfull-blown regulatory pivot,\u201d including that Atkins \u201cinformally but unmistakably said Ethereum is not a security,\u201d and that the company had put ETH \u201cin the spotlight as the foundation for the next era of US finance.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkins<\/a>\u2019 ready speech, titled \u201cAmerican Leadership in the Digital Finance Revolution,\u201d unveiled a program he referred to as Project Crypto\u2014a Commission-wide effort to refit securities regulation for on-chain markets. \u201cWe are at the threshold of a new era \u2026 I am announcing the launch of \u2018Project Crypto\u2019\u2014a Commission-wide initiative to modernize the securities rules and regulations to enable America\u2019s financial markets to move on-chain,\u201d he mentioned, whereas stressing that his remarks mirrored his views slightly than the Commission\u2019s as a complete. The chair tied the initiative to a current White House-led coverage push and mentioned he had directed SEC workers to draft clear guidelines for crypto asset distributions, custody, and buying and selling, and to contemplate interpretive and exemptive aid \u201cin the coming months\u201d to keep away from stifling innovation.<\/p>\n The most consequential sign for digital-asset markets was Atkins\u2019 stance on asset classification. \u201cDespite what the SEC has said in the past, most crypto assets are not securities<\/a>,\u201d he mentioned, promising \u201cbright-line rules\u201d to assist market members decide whether or not a token needs to be handled as a digital collectible, a digital commodity, or a stablecoin, and to craft purpose-fit disclosures, exemptions and protected harbors\u2014together with for ICOs, airdrops and community rewards. In parallel, he argued that classifying a token as a safety \u201cshould not be a scarlet letter,\u201d and outlined a path for crypto-securities to flourish inside US markets.<\/p>\n Atkins additionally sketched an bold market-structure blueprint. He backed side-by-side buying and selling of non-security crypto belongings and crypto-asset securities on SEC-regulated venues, floated a \u201cReg Super-App\u201d idea to let broker-dealers provide buying and selling, staking and lending underneath a single license, and mentioned he would search to modernize custody guidelines so funding advisers and broker-dealers can maintain crypto belongings underneath up to date requirements. \u201cIt will be a priority of my chairmanship to carry out the [report\u2019s] recommendation to modernize the SEC\u2019s custody requirements,\u201d he famous, whereas defending customers\u2019 proper to self-custody and staking.<\/p>\n Crucially for tokenization, Atkins mentioned the Commission would work with companies distributing tokenized securities within the US and supply aid the place acceptable, pointing to pent-up demand \u201cfrom household names on Wall Street<\/a> to unicorn tech companies\u201d and explicitly referencing compliance-enabled token requirements resembling ERC-3643. In a bit on decentralized finance, he pledged to \u201ccreate space\u201d for each totally on-chain, non-intermediated methods and intermediated fashions, and mentioned DeFi \u201cwill be part of our securities markets.\u201d<\/p>\n While Atkins\u2019 ready remarks didn’t identify Ethereum explicitly, they repeatedly referenced Ethereum-native ideas and requirements, and out of doors the speech the chair has lately spoken extra straight about ETH. In a July 21 look on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box, Atkins mentioned the company has \u201cstated informally more than formally that Ether is not a security,\u201d including that whether or not corporates maintain ETH in treasury \u201cis up to companies to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n Conner unpacked the identical themes in an eight-part thread that ricocheted throughout Crypto-X. The former core dev argued that the speech \u201cisn\u2019t just lip service. It\u2019s a full-blown regulatory pivot,\u201d stressing that Atkins had \u201cinformally but unmistakably\u201d eliminated the safety overhang from Ether. \u201cThat\u2019s the clarity institutions have been waiting for,\u201d he wrote, predicting corporate-treasury allocations and a deep link-up between DeFi and Wall Street.<\/p>\n He hailed the endorsement of public-chain tokenization as nonetheless extra consequential: \u201cHe said: let\u2019s bring regulated markets on-chain\u2026 Ethereum is the obvious base layer for this.\u201d And, in a swipe at legacy doctrine, Conner cheered the promise of purpose-built guidelines: \u201cNo more trying to jam crypto into 1940s laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether that enthusiasm endures will rely on how rapidly Project Crypto strikes from rhetorical flourish to concrete rule-making\u2014however, as Conner put it in his closing salvo, \u201cETH isn\u2019t just a coin anymore. It\u2019s the US government\u2019s preferred settlement layer for modern finance. Regulatory uncertainty has been ETH\u2019s biggest overhang, and now it\u2019s being lifted. The SEC just put Ethereum in the spotlight as the foundation for the next era of US finance. This is bigger than an ETF. It\u2019s regulatory alignment with ETH as the global digital asset backbone. Get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n At press time, ETH traded at $3,669.<\/p>\n Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com<\/p>\n Editorial Process<\/strong> for bitcoinist is centered on delivering completely researched, correct, and unbiased content material. We uphold strict sourcing requirements, and every web page undergoes diligent overview by our crew of prime expertise consultants and seasoned editors. This course of ensures the integrity, relevance, and worth of our content material for our readers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nIs Ethereum The Biggest Beneficiary Of \u2018Project Crypto\u2019?<\/h2>\n
Why Ethereum Takes Center Stage<\/h2>\n
![\"Ethereum](\"https:\/\/bitcoinist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ETHUSDT_2025-08-01_07-46-31.png?resize=1024%2C454\")
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