SEC announces a new autonomous office dedicated to digital assets and blockchain

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that the Strategic Pole for Financial Innovation and Technology, commonly referred to as FinHub, will become a standalone office. Valerie A. Szczepanik will continue to lead FinHub as the first director of the office and will report directly to the SEC president.

“The scale and complexity of FinHub’s work has continued to evolve and expand with the evolution of the technology itself,” said Ms. Szczepanik. “This organizational change will facilitate the agency’s agility and flexibility to work with market participants and regulators around the world and to encourage cutting-edge innovation that will shape the intersection of federal laws on titles and technology “.

Founded within the Finance Division of Companies in 2018, FinHub led the agency’s efforts to encourage responsible innovation in the financial sector, including in evolving areas such as distributed ledger technology and digital assets, consulting on financial automated investment, digital market financing and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“Our action to establish FinHub as a standalone office promotes our commitment to facilitate the introduction of new technologies for the benefit of investors and the efficiency and resilience of our markets,” said SEC President Jay Clayton.

“Today’s announcement is evidence of the continued maturation of the blockchain space and digital assets, and is a major step forward in the SEC’s engagement with new and emerging technologies,” said Stephen D. Palley, Partner at Anderson Kill. . Palley further said, “Industry participants have routinely sought guidance from regulators and this designation shows the SEC’s responsiveness to the request and hopefully encourages innovators to take prudent steps to engage with SEC staff as they work in the space of highly regulated securities “.

The office will continue to lead the agency’s work to identify and analyze emerging financial technologies influencing the future of the securities industry and engage with market participants as technologies develop. As director of FinHub, Ms. Szczepanik will coordinate the analysis of emerging financial innovations and technologies in divisions and offices of the SEC and with global regulators and advise the Commission and SEC staff as they develop and implement policies. policies in this area.

“The appointment of Valerie Szczepanik as the first director of the new office, reporting directly to the chairman of the SEC, I believe, reflects the confidence in her FinHub leadership to date, including awareness and interactions with innovative market participants and other regulators at the same way. For me, the fact that FinHub becomes a standalone entity signals a belief in the continued growth and growing significance of digital assets and broader FinTech industries, “said Joshua Klayman, Global Tech Sector Co-Head, US Head of FinTech, Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets as well as a fellow Forbes contributor.

There is a perception often held by the cryptocurrency and blockchain community that US regulators don’t truly understand the technology. Since Szczepanik herself received her JD from Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, this concept doesn’t seem true about who is moving forward on digital assets and blockchain technology at the SEC.