Blockchain Association backs SEC rewrite to ‘promote U.S. leadership in digital assets’

It’s 2026, and the crypto market is not what it was back 2 decades ago in 2005. This time frame forced the U.S. SEC to come up with a proposal to revise the outdated clauses of Regulation NMS—Rules 611 and 610(e). Supporting their proposal on the 17th of August, the Blockchain Association has sent a letter of comment to the SEC.

All about the two rules

For those unaware, Rule 611, often referred to as the trade-through rule, created fragmented trading and increased costs by requiring investors to connect to several venues with protected quotes, even if those venues may not provide the best overall execution.

Meanwhile, Rule 610(e), which prohibits locked and crossed markets, used to skew price discovery because displayed prices usually did not accurately reflect actual economic value after fees and rebates.

Hence, the Blockchain Association supports the SEC’s proposal that removing both of these rules could improve competition, liquidity, and price discovery for the upcoming crypto market.

The letter clarified that the two rules have

Led to a myriad of consequences in today’s trading environment, including increased costs and market structure complexity, limiting order handling and execution choice, and contributing to exchange proliferation and fragmentation of trading on equity exchanges