Atkins: SEC takes 'most historic step yet' on crypto regulation

Proposal to make historic shift in US digital asset policy would give crypto issuers two registration exemptions and a safe harbor from securities classification.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled its most ambitious attempt yet to bring order to crypto capital markets.

It’s proposed a new regulatory framework that would give digital asset issuers clear pathways to raise funds while remaining inside the boundaries of federal securities law.

SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins described the proposal as a landmark shift. "Regulation Crypto Assets seeks to provide crypto asset entrepreneurs and market participants with clear pathways to raise capital under the federal securities laws," Atkins said Tuesday. "For too long, issuers and investors had to navigate an activist SEC weaponized against this asset class," adding that the result had been uncertainty and innovation chasing offshore.

The proposal arrives roughly five months after the Commission published its March 2026 interpretive guidance an analysis that drew a clearer line for advisors on when a crypto asset may or may not constitute a security, building directly on that framework.

Regulation Crypto Assets now establishes the mechanics for how issuers can actually conduct compliant fundraising under those parameters.