DeFi tokens lead crypto market gains after favorable remarks from SEC Chairman Paul Atkins

Decentralized finance tokens have outperformed the broader market following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto roundtable yesterday in Washington, DC. 

In the last 24 hours, Uniswap has jumped about 26% to trade hands at the $8.20 level, giving the decentralized exchange’s governance token a market capitalization of $4.9 billion, while aave, the governance token for the largest lending protocol, has increased nearly 20% to a four-month high of about $310, data from CoinGecko shows.

The two tokens are the highest 24-hour performers among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. 

The uptick comes after the SEC conducted a crypto roundtable titled “DeFi and the American Spirit,” where Chairman Paul Atkins criticized the previous administration’s regulatory approach toward crypto and said, “The American values of economic liberty, private property rights, and innovation are in the DNA of the DeFi, or decentralized finance, movement.” 

Atkins expressed gratitude toward the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance staff for sharing its view that voluntary participation in proof-of-work or proof-of-stake networks does not fall within the scope of the federal securities law. 

Matt Leisinger, cofounder and chief product officer of Alluvial, found the SEC’s acknowledgement encouraging. “While formal rulemaking is still needed, this guidance meaningfully reduces ambiguity for network participants and partners, and opens the door for a regulatory structure that enables innovation and protects investors,” Leisinger said. 

The chairman also directed SEC staff “to consider a conditional exemptive relief framework or ‘innovation exemption’ that would expeditiously allow registrants and non-registrants to bring on-chain products and services to the market.” 

According to Ian Unsworth, cofounder of crypto research firm Kairos, Atkins’ statements provide clarity that benefit the industry because it can now bring previously sidelined capital into decentralized finance protocols. 

“DeFi has long been a coiled spring, burdened by a lack of regulatory clarity. With the pro-innovation stance the SEC has now taken, this signals a 180-degree pivot from the Gensler regime,” Unsworth told Sherwood News. “The market reaction showed how eager allocations are to make sure they’re optimally exposed to this sector.”