Eric Conner, a notable Ethereum personality who assisted in crafting the network\u2019s significant fee-market reform EIP-1559 and recently departed the ecosystem to focus on artificial intelligence, stated late Thursday that the US Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s new policy trajectory constitutes a significant advantage for Ether. \u201cThe SEC just ignited a rocket under Ethereum,\u201d Conner posted<\/a> on X on July 31, responding to a policy speech made hours earlier by SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins in Washington. Conner described the comments as a \u201ccomplete regulatory shift,\u201d adding that Atkins \u201cinformally but clearly indicated that Ethereum is not a security,\u201d and that the agency had placed ETH \u201cin the limelight as the foundation for the upcoming era of US finance.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkins<\/a>\u2019 prepared address, titled \u201cAmerican Leadership in the Digital Finance Revolution,\u201d revealed a program he termed Project Crypto\u2014a Commission-wide initiative to update securities regulations for on-chain markets. \u201cWe are on the brink of a new era \u2026 I am announcing the initiation of \u2018Project Crypto\u2019\u2014a Commission-wide effort to modernize the securities laws and regulations to allow America\u2019s financial markets to transition on-chain,\u201d he explained, emphasizing that his statements reflect his personal views, rather than those of the Commission collectively. The chair linked the initiative to a recent White House-driven policy movement and mentioned he had instructed SEC staff to draft clear regulations for crypto asset distributions, custody, and trading, and to consider interpretative and exemptive relief \u201cin the upcoming months\u201d to foster innovation.<\/p>\n The most critical indicator for digital-asset markets was Atkins\u2019 perspective on asset classification. \u201cRegardless of what the SEC has stated previously, most crypto assets are not securities<\/a>,\u201d he stated, vowing \u201cclear-cut rules\u201d to assist market participants in determining if a token should be regarded as a digital collectible, a digital commodity, or a stablecoin, and to develop appropriate disclosures, exemptions, and safe harbors\u2014including for ICOs, airdrops, and network rewards. Simultaneously, he asserted that labeling a token as a security \u201cshould not be a stigma,\u201d and outlined a pathway for crypto-securities to thrive within US markets.<\/p>\n Atkins also outlined an ambitious market structure vision. He supported simultaneous trading of non-security crypto assets and crypto asset securities on SEC-regulated platforms, proposed a \u201cReg Super-App\u201d concept to enable broker-dealers to facilitate trading, staking, and lending under a unified license, and expressed intentions to reform custody regulations so investment advisers and broker-dealers can hold crypto assets under modernized standards. \u201cIt will be a priority of my leadership to implement the [report\u2019s] suggestion to refresh the SEC\u2019s custody requirements,\u201d he remarked, while defending users\u2019 right to self-custody and staking.<\/p>\n Significantly for tokenization, Atkins mentioned that the Commission would collaborate with firms distributing tokenized securities in the US and provide relief when necessary, citing high demand \u201cfrom well-known entities on Wall Street<\/a> to significant tech firms\u201d and explicitly referencing compliance-enabled token standards such as ERC-3643. In a section discussing decentralized finance, he committed to \u201ccreate opportunity\u201d for both fully on-chain, non-intermediated systems and intermediated models, asserting that DeFi \u201cwill integrate with our securities markets.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Atkins\u2019 prepared comments did not explicitly mention Ethereum, they frequently referred to Ethereum-native concepts and standards, and outside the address, the chair has recently spoken more directly about ETH. In a July 21 appearance on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box, Atkins stated that the agency has \u201cindicated informally more than formally that Ether is not a security,\u201d adding that whether corporations maintain ETH in treasury \u201cis at the discretion of the companies.\u201d<\/p>\n Conner elaborated on the same themes in an eight-part thread that circulated widely on Crypto-X. The former core developer asserted that the speech \u201cisn\u2019t merely symbolic. It\u2019s a complete regulatory shift,\u201d emphasizing that Atkins had \u201cinformally but clearly\u201d alleviated the security burden from Ether. \u201cThat\u2019s the clarity institutions have been waiting for,\u201d he wrote, predicting allocations from corporate treasuries and a profound connection between DeFi and Wall Street.<\/p>\n He celebrated the endorsement of public-chain tokenization as even more significant: \u201cHe said: let\u2019s bring regulated markets on-chain\u2026 Ethereum is the evident base layer for this.\u201d And, in a critique of traditional doctrine, Conner applauded the promise of tailored rules: \u201cNo more attempting to fit crypto into 1940s legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether that enthusiasm persists will hinge on how swiftly Project Crypto transitions from rhetorical flourish to tangible rule-making\u2014but, as Conner stated in his concluding remarks, \u201cETH isn\u2019t merely a coin anymore. It\u2019s the US government\u2019s favored settlement layer for contemporary finance. Regulatory ambiguity has been ETH\u2019s greatest burden, and now it\u2019s being lifted. The SEC just positioned Ethereum in the spotlight as the foundation for the next phase of US finance. This is more significant than an ETF. It\u2019s regulatory alignment with ETH as the global digital asset backbone. Prepare yourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n At press time, ETH traded at $3,669.<\/p>\n Featured image generated with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com<\/p>\nIs Ethereum The Primary Beneficiary Of \u2018Project Crypto\u2019?<\/h2>\n
Why Ethereum Takes Center Stage<\/h2>\n
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