Paul Atkins, Chairman of the US SEC, recently dropped a bombshell in an interview—he bluntly stated that Bitcoin and crypto assets will become the underlying infrastructure of global finance in the coming years, and added, “This is the direction the world is heading.”

These remarks are not just empty talk. The SEC has recently been pushing for upgrades to financial infrastructure, with the core focus on moving traditional finance onto crypto technology—especially migrating securities assets onto the blockchain. The chairman even used an analogy: just like when music shifted from vinyl records to digital audio, blockchain and smart contracts can make rights distribution crystal clear and bring liquidity to previously illiquid assets. Issuance, trading, and holding models will be completely transformed, just as MP3s reshaped the music industry.

How will this be done? It’s not just about tokenizing assets, but about moving the entire traditional financial infrastructure onto the blockchain. Some experts predict that within two years, all US markets could run and settle on-chain, with blockchain providing clear confirmation of ownership.

The regulatory framework is also keeping pace. The SEC has made it clear they want to move away from the old “fine first, talk later” enforcement approach, shifting instead to formal rulemaking, optimizing exemption provisions, and improving disclosure guidelines to set proper rules for crypto asset issuance, custody, and trading.

For example, at the issuance stage, the SEC plans to adjust traditional registration forms to suit crypto assets; for custody, restrictive accounting rules will be scrapped and the definition of “qualified custodian” will be clarified; on the trading side, they support brokers building integrated platforms that can handle both securities and crypto assets. The goal behind these moves is clear: to solidify America’s leadership in the global crypto space.

Although Bitcoin is highly volatile and speculative, as the leader of the crypto market, it has been officially designated as a non-security, and is more like a store of value.

This wave of actions from the SEC is essentially setting the stage for the transformation of traditional finance—encouraging innovation while keeping risks in check. How this path will unfold will become clear in the coming years.