SEC Chair Describes New Direction on IPOs, Digital Assets and Climate Rules

SEC Chair Atkins described a new direction for the agency, highlighting efforts to roll back prior regulatory overreach on climate-related disclosure, a recalibration on public-company reporting and a reset on digital-asset regulation.

In remarks at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum, Mr. Atkins framed the his agenda as a "new day at the SEC." He said disclosure requirements that began as a framework to "illuminate" had become instruments to "obscure". He said the SEC is moving to reverse that by taking the agency back to first principles.

He recounted that the number of companies listed on U.S. exchanges fell by roughly 40 percent since 1994 and argued that the accumulation of new rules without excising those that had become irrelevant had made going and staying public less compelling. (See previous coverage.) He referenced two recent rule proposals that would reduce the burdens of being a public company by recalibrating disclosure requirements and making it easier for companies to access the public markets quickly when conditions are most favorable. He also referenced an earlier proposal to allow companies the flexibility of quarterly or semiannual reporting cadences. (See previous coverage.)

Mr. Atkins also highlighted a new proposal to rescind the "prior administration's ill-advised climate rule." (See accompanying coverage.)

On digital assets, Mr. Atkins said the SEC launched Project Crypto, a joint effort with the CFTC to modernize the agency's rules and facilitate markets moving on-chain. Building on that, he said, the SEC (i) "recently delivered long-overdue clarity for market participants that distinguishes which digital assets are considered securities, and which are not;" (ii) advanced work on a forthcoming "innovation exemption" for tokenized listed securities and (iii) is taking steps to clarify how on-chain trading systems fit within existing regulations.