The SEC Is About to Change the Rules for Crypto — Here’s What’s Coming

TLDR

• The SEC has placed crypto rule changes at the top of its 2026 regulatory agenda
• A proposal called “Regulation Crypto” could exempt some crypto activities from securities rules
• The rules would cover crypto broker-dealers, trading systems, and safe harbors for digital assets
• SEC Chair Paul Atkins wants the US to become the “crypto capital of the world”
• Trump admitted he promoted crypto partly for political reasons ahead of the 2024 election

The SEC is preparing its first major crypto-specific rule, expected as early as July 2026. The proposal, called “Regulation Crypto,” would create temporary exemptions from securities registration for certain crypto activities.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins announced the updated agenda on Tuesday. He said the rules are designed to align with the Trump administration’s goal of making the US the global leader in crypto.

The proposed rules cover three main areas: crypto broker-dealers, digital assets on trading platforms and national securities exchanges, and safe harbors for certain issuers stepping back from managing a token.

The agenda also includes rules around asset custody and crypto market structure. These go beyond guidance documents and carry the weight of formal regulation, making them harder to reverse under future leadership.

What Regulation Crypto Would Do

“Regulation Crypto” would allow developers launching crypto investment contracts to skip registration temporarily. It would also permit a set amount of fundraising and protect issuers who are winding down their control over a digital asset.

Atkins first outlined this plan in March 2026, saying it would come in “the coming weeks.” It is now listed for July on the SEC’s agenda, though it is still under review at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

The SEC earlier this year published its first digital asset “taxonomy,” laying out how different tokens should be defined and regulated. The agency is also working on rules for tokenized securities.

Political Pressure and Criticism

The SEC’s crypto push has not been without controversy. Democratic lawmakers have accused the agency of easing up on enforcement against companies with ties to Trump, including Binance, Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Kraken.

Three Democratic House members wrote to Atkins in January, saying the SEC’s decision to drop enforcement cases had left investors without protection. They argued that federal courts had already found some tokens to be securities.

Atkins has said the agency will move forward on its own but will defer to Congress if a crypto market structure bill passes. That bill, which would shift much of the SEC’s crypto oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has stalled in Congress.

Trump, meanwhile, acknowledged on Monday that he got involved in crypto “a little bit for politics.” He had previously called Bitcoin a scam during his first term before reversing his position ahead of the 2024 election.

The SEC’s crypto agenda is now one of the most active in the agency’s history for the sector. Whether formal rules arrive before Congress acts remains the key question for the industry.

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