Morning Minute: SEC Brings Clarity to Crypto

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors are green with SOL leading; BTC +0.5% at $64.4k
• SEC proposes its first formal crypto rules with Regulation Crypto Assets
• Vlad Tenev posts “Tokenized Stocks in America,” calls on politicians to modernize securities rules
• Citi to introduce Bitcoin custody for its institutional clients
• Bitcoin ETFs see $487M in net inflows to start the week

🏛️ SEC Proposes First Formal Crypto Rules for Token Fundraising

For a decade, the SEC regulated crypto fundraising by lawsuit, suing token issuers one at a time without ever publishing rules explaining what legal looked like. Now that’s changing.

Yesterday the SEC introduced “Regulation Crypto Assets” as the agency’s first formal crypto rulemaking, and it creates two paths for selling tokens without registering with the SEC.

The smaller path allows a one-time raise of up to $5 million over four years. The larger allows up to $75 million in any 12-month period, a ceiling that mirrors Reg A+ Tier 2, the mini-IPO framework Congress built through the JOBS Act. Both require principles-based narrative disclosures closer to a whitepaper than a registration statement, and the $75 million tier adds financial statements and ongoing reporting. The rules would also preempt state registration requirements for exempt offerings and certain secondary trades.