The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 7 published its 2026 Unified Regulatory Agenda containing 38 proposed rules, three of which target crypto assets directly. The crypto items — covering token offerings (RIN 3235-AN38), broker-dealer capital and custody requirements (RIN 3235-AN48...
"To deliver on President Trump's goal to ensure that the United States is the crypto capital of the world, we are embracing innovation to bring more products onshore, creating clear rules of the road for capital raising with crypto assets, and providing clarity as to how market participants can custody and facilitate trading of tokenized securities onchain." — Paul Atkins, Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on July 7 published its 2026 Unified Regulatory Agenda containing 38 proposed rules, three of which target crypto assets directly. The crypto items — covering token offerings (RIN 3235-AN38), broker-dealer capital and custody requirements (RIN 3235-AN48), and market structure amendments for digital asset trading venues (RIN 3235-AN49) — are all slated for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking this month. If finalized, the package would allow a single licensed broker-dealer to hold and trade crypto alongside equities and tokenized Treasuries on one platform.
The agenda lands alongside a separate June 11 proposal to rescind Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation NMS, the 20-year-old trade-through and locked/crossed market prohibitions that structurally block on-chain automated market makers from executing U.S. equity trades. Combined, these moves represent the most comprehensive rewrite of digital asset securities law since the Howey test was first applied to tokens in 2017.
The timing is deliberate. Congress's CLARITY Act — the sweeping market-structure bill that would divide jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC — faces a narrow Senate window before August recess, with passage uncertain ahead of November midterm elections. If Congress fails to act, Regulation Crypto becomes the primary federal policy instrument governing U.S. digital asset markets.
Chair Atkins released the 2026 agenda on July 7, framing it around "returning the agency to its core mission of protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets." Of the 38 proposed rules, the three crypto-specific items share a common target date of July 2026 for issuance of the NPRM.
| RIN | Title | Scope | |-----|-------|-------| | 3235-AN38 | Regulation Crypto | Token offerings, safe harbors, fundraising exemptions | | 3235-AN48 | Broker-Dealer Capital & Customer Protection | Amendments to Rules 15c3-1, 15c3-3, 17a-3, 17a-4 for crypto | | 3235-AN49 | Crypto Market Structure | ATS and national exchange amendments for digital assets |
The proposals are currently under review at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Once published, each opens a standard 60-day public comment window before the SEC can move to final adoption — a process that typically takes 12 to 18 months.
The centerpiece of the agenda is Regulation Crypto (RIN 3235-AN38), which establishes three distinct pathways for token issuers seeking relief from full securities registration:
Pathway 1 — Startup Exemption. Projects valued at up to $5 million receive a temporary exemption from the SEC's full registration process for up to four years. During this period, the team can develop its network while publishing simplified disclosures to investors. The exemption is designed for pre-revenue protocols still building toward decentralization.
Pathway 2 — Fundraising Exemption. More established projects may raise up to $75 million within any 12-month period, provided they file audited balance sheets and statements regarding the issuer's financial condition. This parallels the existing Regulation A+ framework but is tailored for crypto investment contracts.
Pathway 3 — Investment-Contract Safe Harbor. Issuers that have completed or permanently ceased all "essential managerial efforts" receive a codified, rule-based confirmation that their tokens are no longer investment contracts subject to SEC jurisdiction. This pathway addresses the long-standing ambiguity around when a token transitions from security to non-security — the question at the center of nearly every SEC enforcement action from 2018 to 2025.
An issuer that misrepresents material facts, exceeds fundraising caps, or fails to file required disclosures loses the safe harbor and faces full enforcement liability for unregistered offerings. The safe harbor is not a blanket immunity; it is a conditional reprieve with defined exit triggers.
The framework traces its origins to Commissioner Hester Peirce's "Token Safe Harbor" proposals, first floated in 2020 and revised in 2021. Peirce, who announced her departure from the SEC effective November 2026 to join Regent University School of Law, has stated she expects the CLARITY Act to pass this summer alongside the SEC's own rulemaking.
RIN 3235-AN48 proposes formal amendments to four existing rules governing broker-dealer operations:
This rulemaking formalizes guidance the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets issued in stages over the past 18 months. In December 2025, the Division published a statement on the application of Rule 15c3-3's "possession" requirements to fully paid and excess margin digital asset securities. In early 2026, the Division released FAQ-style guidance confirming that broker-dealers may custody non-security crypto assets, treat crypto asset securities as held at permissible control locations, hold crypto assets as proprietary positions for net capital purposes subject to applicable haircuts, and engage in in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto exchange-traded products.
The proposed amendments convert that informal guidance into binding rule text. For the roughly 3,400 FINRA-registered broker-dealers, this creates a clear compliance path for adding crypto capabilities without obtaining a separate special-purpose license.
RIN 3235-AN49 proposes amendments to Exchange Act rules governing Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) and national securities exchanges. The goal: allow digital asset securities — including tokenized equities, bonds, and fund shares — to trade on existing regulated platforms alongside traditional securities.
Under current rules, an ATS or exchange seeking to list a crypto asset must navigate overlapping requirements designed for stocks and bonds, including order-display obligations, access-fee caps, and best-execution standards that assume centralized order books. The proposed amendments would create tailored exemptions for digital asset order types, settlement finality standards tied to blockchain confirmation, and price-discovery mechanisms compatible with automated market maker architectures.
Platforms including Robinhood and Kraken have been developing tokenized stock capabilities. The SEC had reportedly prepared a separate innovation exemption for authentic tokenized versions of exchange-listed U.S. equities — backed 1:1 by underlying shares at a qualified custodian — before postponing its release after traditional exchange officials raised execution concerns.
On June 11, the SEC voted to propose rescinding Rules 611 and 610(e) of Regulation NMS, the market structure framework governing U.S. equity trading since 2005. The 267-page proposal opens a 60-day comment period, with policy analysts at TD Cowen's Washington Research Group projecting a final SEC vote by Q1 2027.
Rule 611 — the trade-through rule — requires trading centers to prevent stock trades from executing at prices worse than protected quotes displayed elsewhere. Rule 610(e) prohibits locking and crossing quotations. Together, they form the structural backbone of the National Market System's price-protection regime.
The crypto implications are direct. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, described Rule 611 as one of the "biggest barriers" to tokenized equities, stating: "An AMM cannot comply with 611 by construction. It executes against a bonding curve at whatever the pool price is, with slippage, at block-time granularity."
An on-chain pool cannot route intermarket sweep orders, ingest consolidated market data with the latency guarantees expected in U.S. equities, or halt a swap because a better quote briefly appears on Nasdaq. Rule 611 rescission removes that structural impossibility.
Benchmark, the equity research firm, designated the NMS proposal as the "most consequential" U.S. crypto rule of 2026. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) has indicated support for the initiative.
Remaining obstacles are substantial. Firms seeking to trade tokenized equities would still need to resolve whether the product is properly registered, where it trades, who holds the underlying asset, how corporate actions are handled, whether investors receive shareholder rights, and how settlement works. Rescission of Rule 611 removes one barrier but does not eliminate all of them.
The SEC's pivot from enforcement to rulemaking under Chair Atkins represents a structural reversal from the Gensler era. Since Atkins took office, the SEC has dismissed or dropped enforcement cases against Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and Consensys, and closed investigations into Robinhood, Uniswap, OpenSea, and Gemini without charges.
Democratic lawmakers have criticized the approach. Three House Democrats stated in a January 2026 letter that the administration's financial interests in companies including Binance, Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Kraken create conflicts of interest. They argue the SEC's position that most crypto tokens are not securities creates an "enforcement vacuum" leaving investors unprotected.
The legislative backdrop remains uncertain. The CLARITY Act, which would establish a comprehensive market-structure framework dividing regulatory authority between the SEC and CFTC, faces critical Senate votes before August recess. The GENIUS Act — federal stablecoin legislation — has passed the Senate and is advancing to the House. If both bills stall, the SEC's Regulation Crypto framework becomes the de facto federal policy, operating through agency rulemaking rather than Congressional statute.
This dynamic gives the SEC's three proposed rules outsized significance. They are not merely regulatory housekeeping; they are potential substitutes for Congressional action on the most fundamental questions in U.S. digital asset policy — what is a security, who can trade it, and where it can be held.
The SEC's 2026 agenda amounts to a regulatory reconstruction of U.S. digital asset law. The three proposed rules, combined with the Rule 611 rescission, would create a framework where tokens can be issued under safe harbors, held by regulated broker-dealers, traded on licensed venues, and — eventually — settled through on-chain automated market makers alongside traditional equities.
The architecture is conditional. Each proposal must survive public comment, potential revision, and possible legal challenge. Final adoption timelines stretch into 2027 or beyond. And the political environment — with Peirce departing in November, midterm elections looming, and Congressional legislation uncertain — introduces variables that no regulatory agenda can fully control.
What the agenda does establish is a clear statement of intent. The SEC is no longer treating crypto as an enforcement problem. It is treating it as a market-structure problem, subject to the same rulemaking processes that govern equities, fixed income, and derivatives. Whether that treatment produces functional rules or regulatory ambiguity will depend on the details that emerge during the comment period.