SEC launches Project Crypto to bring America’s markets on-chain

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the launch of “Project Crypto,” with SEC Chair Paul Atkins saying the initiative will help achieve President Donald Trump’s vision of making America the crypto capital of the world.

SEC announced the “Project Crypto” on Thursday, July 31 via chair Paul Atkins, who revealed the grand plan in a speech delivered at the America First Policy Institute event in Washington D.C.

According to Atkins, the future of financial markets is moving so quickly that the United States must “do more than just keep pace with the crypto assets revolution.” The U.S. has to take the initiative and drive this revolution.

Making U.S. global crypto market leader

SEC’s latest crypto related initiative comes a day after the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets released its highly anticipated report. 

Among its areas of focus are recommendations to federal agencies, including the SEC, to establish a crypto framework aimed at ensuring the U.S. maintains its dominance in global digital asset markets.

Project Crypto builds on this broader effort, with the SEC seeking to implement the PWG recommendations swiftly. The plan includes creating clear and simple rules for crypto distributions, custody, and trading in the U.S.

SEC sees Project Crypto as part of the efforts to not just bring financial markets on-chain, but also return all the crypto businesses pushed offshore during Gary Gensler’s tenure as SEC chair.

In recent months, under the Trump administration, the SEC has withdrawn lawsuits and ended several investigations that were pursued under Gensler’s heavily criticized regulation-by-enforcement approach. The agency has since issued statements clarifying its positions and signaling a complete shift away from its prior anti-crypto stance.