The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) praised Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins on Friday for what it described as an ambitious effort to improve clarity for on-chain markets. 

SEC’s On-Chain Guidance Agenda

Atkins’ centered on four key areas where he said the Commission should provide more guidance on how regulatory principles translate into the context of on-chain activity. He said that participants should have a clear sense of how on-chain trading systems can function within the regulatory perimeter. 

Looking ahead, he noted that while the SEC may consider a limited “innovation pathway” soon, he also argued the agency should think about what a future-proof framework could look like. 

In his view, that framework would take the form of notice-and-comment rulemaking, and it would specifically address how the SEC’s “exchange” definition applies to on-chain trading systems.

The SEC chair also pointed to the need to clarify how the would apply to these activities. He said the Commission should examine issues raised in a recent staff statement on software interfaces, and he suggested that this policy initiative could involve notice-and-comment exemptive rulemaking.

A third area of emphasis was the definition of a “clearing agency” as it applies to on-chain clearing and settlement. Atkins said rulemaking may be necessary to confirm which general-purpose activities fall outside that definition.

Finally, Atkins called for additional clarity surrounding what are commonly referred to as “crypto vaults.” He described crypto vaults as on-chain that allow users to earn yield passively by deploying their assets into yield-generating opportunities on-chain. 

He said the Commission should address the relevant Securities Act and Advisers Act touch-points as it considers these policy initiatives.

Why Hyperliquid Policy Center Finds It Promising

Atkins concluded by saying the SEC will keep moving forward to accommodate markets moving on-chain. At the same time, he reiterated his call for Congress to send theto President Trump’s desk. 

He argued that while the SEC intends to “future-proof” its efforts through notice-and-comment rulemaking, there is “no more powerful” future-proofing mechanism than enshrining well-designed statutory language in law.

The Hyperliquid Policy Center, led by Jake Chervinsky, said it was encouraged by Atkins’ approach of mapping on-chain clearing and settlement systems to existing legal frameworks “on their own terms,” rather than forcing them into legacy categories built for legacy architecture. 

The Hyperliquid Policy Center also on-chain clearing and settlement “one of the most significant financial infrastructure innovations of our generation,” and it said it views the chairman’s stance as a constructive step toward regulatory alignment as on-chain systems continue to evolve.

At the time of writing, the Hyperliquid platform’s native token, HYPE, was trading at $42.98, marking a 2% increase over the last 24 hours. Currently, the Hyperliquid token is trading at almost 27% below its all-time high of $59, which was reached last year. 

Featured image created with OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com