Chairman Atkins Talks Revitalizing American’s Markets
On December 2, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins gave a speech at the NYSE providing insight on his plans to revitalize the U.S. capital markets.
To set the stage, Chair Atkins begins with a discussion of the history of American innovation built on capitalism and how “the great leaps of American life were always produced by a willingness to tolerate and accept risks within a system that rewards those who take them. Our prosperity is no accident of history—nor is our primacy assured in the future. The twentieth century was a triumph of economic freedom over doctrines that sought to constrain it.” Unfortunately, recent years have seen a regulatory stifling of that innovation.
Chair Atkins notes that when he first left the SEC in the mid 1990’s, there were more than 7,000 companies listed on US exchange “from small-cap innovators to giants of industry.” However, that number has now fallen by approximately 40%. Chair Atkins points a finger directly
