SEC Goes All In on Pro-Crypto Agenda With Slew of Digital Asset Rulemakings

In brief

The SEC unveiled a new rulemaking agenda proposing major rollbacks of crypto asset regulation, with nearly half of 20 new rules focused on digital assets.
Planned reforms include creating rules for crypto asset issuance and trading, redefining key terms like “dealer,” and allowing crypto on U.S. securities exchanges.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the changes aim to integrate crypto into the U.S. economy while still discouraging fraud and bad actors.

The SEC released its latest rulemaking agenda Thursday, which focuses heavily on easing regulation of the crypto sector and following through on promises to integrate digital assets with the traditional American economy.

Of 20 rulemakings proposed by the agency today, nearly half have to do with loosening regulations on crypto. The entire crypto market, for context, is collectively worth $3.8 trillion at writing—a tiny fraction of the $120 trillion U.S. capital markets under the SEC’s purview.

“This regulatory agenda reflects that it is a new day at the Securities and Exchange Commission,” SEC chair Paul Atkins said today in a statement. “A key priority of my Chairmanship is clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.”

Proposed crypto rules announced by the SEC today include one recommendation to create rules relating to the offer and sale of crypto assets, as well as certain related exemptions and safe harbors. Such rules were promised by Atkins earlier this summer upon his announcement of the regulator’s “Project Crypto” initiative.

Another proposed rule would amend rules related to the agency’s interpretation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, to enable the trading of crypto assets on U.S. securities exchanges. Earlier this week, the SEC and CFTC jointly released a statement encouraging traditional commodities and securities exchanges to explore listing spot crypto assets.

Other moves could upend longstanding SEC interpretations of New Deal-era financial regulations. Per today’s announcement, the agency plans to consider creating crypto carve-outs to its broker-dealer financial responsibility rules, and even redefining the term “dealer” itself.

The terms “broker” and “dealer”, as laid out in the 1934 Securities Exchange Act, are foundational to the SEC’s mission and jurisdiction. They define which individuals and entities are in the business of buying securities for others or themselves, and thus fall under the SEC’s stringent regulatory regime.

The SEC has been vocal since the beginning about the second Trump administration’s aggressive approach toward loosening crypto regulations. But today’s update on the agency’s active rulemaking agenda marks perhaps its most concrete move yet to turn those promises into official agency policy.