The SEC has introduced new rules for crypto assets.

Todju, the gold fortune.

Summary:On 18 August 2026, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had introduced new regulations called the Regulation of Encrypted Assets (Regulation Cripto Assets), which were designed to establish a clear and applicable framework for specific investment contracts involving crypto assets.

Review of the content of the new provisions

According to the United States,SEC Network of Officials：

The proposed rules contain two exemptions, specifically for specific investment contracts involving crypto assets, and exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act 1933. The first exemption is a one-time exemption, allowing securities not exceeding $5 million to be issued within four years. The second exemption allows securities up to $75 million to be issued within each 12-month period. Under both exemptions, the issuer is required to provide certain principles-based narrative disclosures to investors. In addition, under the second exemption, issuers are required to provide financial statements and comply with ongoing reporting requirements. 

The proposed rules also include a conditional “safe harbour” clause that exempts the term “investment contract” from the definition of “securities” in the Securities Act 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act 1934. If the conditions of this proposed safe harbour clause are met, an crypto asset will be deemed not to be subject to the “investment contract” in the definition of “securities”. In addition, the proposed rules will also take precedence over the requirements of the cantonal securities laws on the issue and sale of securities issued under exemptions from the regulation of crypto assets, as well as the registration and qualification requirements for certain secondary market transactions. 

The proposed rules, based on the explanatory guidance issued by the Commission earlier this year, aim to define more clearly when crypto assets fall within the jurisdiction of federal securities law, reduce the incentive for issuers to create and operate offshore assets and expand investment opportunities for United States investors through stronger and more consistent protection measures.

The public review period will last 60 days from the date of publication of the proposal in the Federal Gazette.

Details are availableUnited States SEC official proposal “Screenly Asset Code: Two Levels of Exemption + Safe Port”

II. Summary of industry perspectives

1. SEC: Providing a regulatory framework, removing barriers to innovation

The SEC believes that the rule will provide a clear and suitable framework for specific investment contracts involving crypto assets. It aims to address long-standing barriers to responsible capital formation and innovation in domestic crypto asset markets, while preserving investor protection at the core of federal securities law.

US SEC Chairman Paul Atkins states: “As we continue to advance the work of the SEC in providing clarity for the encryption market and as Congress strives to establish a lasting regulatory framework, the `crypto asset code' aims to provide crypto asset entrepreneurs and market participants with clear paths to raise capital under the Federal Securities Act. Consistent with the earlier interpretative guidance of the SEC, the proposal will also provide a safe harbour once the issuer completes or permanently ceases all basic management efforts stated or committed under the investment contract. The Congress designed our securities law to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs to innovate and develop new products within specific clusters. Advancing this regulatory framework is a key element of our strategy to update the rulebook for the modern age and another initiative by the SEC to perpetuate innovations in crypto asset markets. I'm sorry.

2. Executives in industry: Welcome, welcome,It's more complicated than the Clarity Act.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase: Welcomes this and calls for further action on monetized stocks.This marked progress in the modernization of financial rules.Armstrong also urged the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue an innovative exemption clause. He said that the exemption clause was expected to facilitate chain-based trading in tokenized shares.

Bitwise created Matt Hougan:Within the past 24 hours, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has issued Regulations on Encrypted Assets; the Treasury Department has introduced yield curve control; and the White House has prepared meetings with top encryption executives to discuss monetization and the Clarity Bill.It's hard not to look at the BTC and the whole encryption market so much now.

Securitize, CEO Brett Redfearn ：The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has postponed its planned exemption for innovation in tokenized securities, as issuing the exemption may complicate voting on the CLARITY Act.The exemption, which was expected to be announced on 14 August, was withdrawn as legislators were trying to gain support for the Market Structure Act. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission proposed separate rules for the regulation of crypto assets on 18 August.The innovative exemption clause will be introduced after the CLARITY Act, “possibly in early October”. It is expected to cover tokenized securities traded through a new type of trading venue that does not require brokers, registered alternative trading systems (ATS) or exchanges.

3. Industry associations: providing clear rules

American Zone Chain AssociationChief Executive Officer Summer Mosinger: “The regulation of crypto assets is an important step towards clear and appropriate rules that the United States digital asset market has required for many years.”

The United States Industrial Trade Organization, the Digital Chamber of CommerceThe proposal was also appreciated by CEO Cody Carpen, whose organization would “cooperate with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that the consumer and digital asset industries flourish in the United States”.

Previously, the issue of encryption money regulation in the United States was not only too strict but also too vague: whether crypto assets were part of securities, what the CFTCs and SECs had respective regulatory powers, whether currency was a decentrized network, and whether it was securities ... The industry association therefore considered this to be important.

4. Media: a new regulation with more influence, conflict of laws

Reuters:It's the government of US President Donald Trump who has been working on custom rules for the industry for a long time.Take the first big step.

Be In Crypto：The long-standing proceedings initiated by SEC and Ripple against XRP were finally answered in writing.The lawsuit left a dilemma for all projects since then: tokens can be legally removed from securities status, but there are no rules to guide the issuer in doing so without a judge. The proposed safe harbour mechanism makes up for this missing mechanism: once the team completes or permanently terminates the management of its commitment to the buyer, the asset will no longer be subject to an investment contract.

Crypto Times：Regulation of crypto assets can significantly alleviate the direct regulatory challenges that projects face when issuing tokens and raising funds in the United States.On this particular issue, it overlaps with parts of the CLARITY and may temporarily replace some elements of the CLARITY Act.

However, it did not provide the complete market structure that Clarity was trying to establish.It does not provide the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with a comprehensive federal spot market regulation mechanism, it does not create a framework for registration of digital commodity exchanges, it does not address the treatment of DeFi and software developers, it does not establish a self-custodial protection mechanism or establish a statutory division of powers between SEC and CFTC.

In other words, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposal could solve most of the bond issues. The CLARITY Act is designed to address market structure problems.

The start-up exemption is intended to build bridges between businesses through their development phase. Larger projects can consider requesting funding exemptions, which are more demanding than the start-ups’ exemptions, but this may be much more feasible for token projects than trying to remodel themselves around disclosure rules that are primarily designed for traditional securities issues.The compliance burden has not disappeared, but has become more predictable.

crypto asset regulations will also replace the requirements for registration and eligibility of securities in some states. According to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposal, this replacement mechanism is achieved by the category of “qualified purchaser” as defined in rule 500 of sub-section E of the proposal.

Next, the issuers of tokens should focus on:

• The first was feedback from industry and investors on whether $5 million, $20 million and $75 million were appropriate funding thresholds.

• The second point is how commentators respond to management effort tests at safe ports, in particular the decision of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission not to require separate quantitative decentralization criteria.

• The third is Congress. If the CLARITY Act is passed in September, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may need to consider a number of legislative provisions that overlap significantly with the issuer framework of the proposal.

The new regulatory direction is more influential than other cryptocurrency guidance issued by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. If the final programme is implemented largely as proposed, it will provide eligible coin issuers with what they have been looking for over the years: a clear way to raise funds in the United States, disclose customized information about encryption projects, and possibly withdraw from investment contract treatment after completion of promised management.

Crypto NewsThe question of the conflict between the CLARITY Act and the new regulation of the SEC was discussed:The legal hierarchy is very clear. Federal legislation takes precedence over institutional rules. If the CLARITY Act is passed, its provisions will prevail over any United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule that conflicts with federal legislation.Currency classification systems, the testing of mature block chains, the jurisdiction of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over digital goods and decentralised financial (DeFi) developers ' protections will take precedence over the Regulation to the extent that they conflict with the Regulation on Encrypted Assets.

But even if that were not the case at the legal level, it would be quite the opposite in practice.If the CLARITY Bill fails in the Senate, the Regulation of Encrypted Assets (Regulation Cripto Assets) will be the only structural framework available.The project will build compliance programs around the three regulatory paths of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The exchange will develop listing standards based on safe harbour principles. Lawyers will use the NOR form and the 1 CRYPTO form template to advise clients.

5. Big V: Encrypted market or ICO compliance era

• Blue Fox:The SEC's new encryption proposal no longer awaits the adoption of Clarity Act, providing relatively clear access to finance and innovative testing for encryption projects.Perhaps the encryption market could usher in an era of compliance with “ICO.” This could significantly boost America’s encryption programs.

  Because,Encryption projects have relatively clear access to financing.: A maximum of US$ 5 million in funding for start-up projects over four years, with a low threshold and suitable for project start-up; a more large funding exemption (up to US$ 75 million every 12 months) for eligible finance for mature projects.Safe harbours provide clear paths for the de-securitization of tokens and are very beneficial to compliance status after the de-centreization of networksAs long as the project team delivers on what it promised, it can apply for a currency that is no longer “securities” and easier to regulate when it becomes a commodity. For US investors, there is an opportunity for more compliance investment opportunities (retention of core investor protection, such as disclosure + anti-fraud).

• Haotian：Many people are still scrambling about the new code of the SEC, and what kind of project will it produce? Will it bring a wave of prosperity to the encryption industry?The core of this package is to provide two customized fundraising channels for "investment contracts involving non-securitized and crypto assets".One is a start-up exemption of up to $5 million over four years, with relatively light disclosure requirements; The other is a financing exemption, modelled on Reg A, which can be up to $75 million over 12 months (in the Teer sub-section), with significant requirements for auditing financial reports and ongoing reporting. Plus a safe harbour: Once the core management effort of the commitment has been completed or permanently abandoned by the team, the token can be formally recognized as no longer subject to investment contracts and thus withdraw from securities attributes. Compliance with ICO is not new, like the Blackback in 2019, where you're now talking about the first crab eater. It spent almost 10 months, nearly $3 million, to complete the Reg A+ process, making it the first eligible encrypted token to be publicly released in the history of the SEC, allowing United States retail investors to participate and raising approximately $23 million. The network was then centralized and the company submitted an exit report, which, although investigated by the SEC for more than three years, ended in 2024 with no enforcement action.

  It should be said that the STX compliance ICO path is still heavily market-retarded, but it is definitely a prelude to this SEC compliance ICO exercise, the difference being that now the SEC team has a completely new proposal code, a project Crypto ' s encrypted friendly policy environment, a policy shift from government-led regulation in Trump, a separation of regulatory responsibilities in Clarity Act, etc.

  ... The current proposal increases the scale, discloses principles and secure harbours to death, along with the Atkins-led tone of “getting innovators back to the United States”, which amounts to standardizing, reducing costs and significantly increasing certainty as STX moves through a rock river that year.So this is not a foundationless government incentive proposal, with an experimental basis and full closed loop cases. STX has demonstrated with real experience that compliance issues open the doors of retailing and institutions in the United States, and then go into centralization and eventually finish the regulatory process. The rules now simply entrench these experiences, leaving laterers less to turn around.

  You asked me if there'd be a lot of similar projects coming out, and the answer must be yes.This will certainly bring a wave of expectations to the next markets in the encryption industry.However, it should be noted that the SEC, which only regulates policy direction and financing, has provided a guarantee of survival for some projects, but whether “growth” is dependent on the project’s own PMF landing, in fact STX, as the first project to be honoured by compliance with ICO, has not suffered from the cruel reality of a 90% collapse.So ICO-compliant Eastern Winds sends a base of promising, powerful and high-quality projects, who will be able to come out, combined with the big narratives and landings of the entire encryption industry.In any case, compliance is a survival ticket and not a gold medal.It's a team that can get out of here and make PMFs on its own.

• Clarissa Yorke：The regulation of crypto assets was introduced a few days ago after the SEC cancelled a meeting that had been scheduled to vote on the same proposal, and this time is not entirely unexpected.

  Core concept: A safe harbour mechanism for investment contracts, where crypto assets are no longer classified as securities once the founders withdraw from critical management efforts.This is the real headline.A path that will ultimately make tokens no longer considered securities. If implemented, it will change how the founders will build their future token distribution structures rather than just the way regulators enforce them ex post.It is still a proposal, not a law. But the direction is important.

6. General interest

Following the announcement of a new code by the SEC, comments were made.

• @MikeC0921：@SECPaulSAtkins The pre-market ecosystem of the United States has been destroyed by the weaponization of institutions.

  Look at this double standard:

  1. Independent operators: The establishment of a fund to hold pre-marketable shares worth more than $270 million benefited 2,200 investors ⁇ SEC to freeze 100 per cent of its funds 38 months prior to trial, and the court-appointed receiver settled SpaceX at a discount to cover legal costs in excess of $20 million, which was violated by the federal prosecutor.

  Bill Ackman launched Pershing Square Ventures to capture the rising potential of pre-market technology units.

  When court-appointed receivers consume their inheritance to feed their companies, and independent innovators are criminalized, the SEC protects whom? Real reform means holding rogue law enforcement accountable and ending the regulatory monopoly of elite insiders.

• @knilxen: A statement is made that the aim is to reduce incentives for offshore operations. The one-time 5 million cap and the 75 million a year cap is this proposal. I do not think this number will impress anyone who has left.

• @MuseForge434: First, lower the capital gains tax of less than 12 months to at least 23% or less in order to help citizens succeed and create more capital and opportunities through the use of cryptocurrency. What's the point of promoting long-term ownership besides large-scale money being sold out on a dispersed household?

• @Collin482763231: Thank you for doing something the Congress can't do.

Summary

The SEC introduced the Encrypted Assets Regulation (SCR) to move US regulation from a “law enforcement priority” in the past to an attempt to provide clear compliance paths. It provides a legitimate token financing portal for US encryption projects. The new regulations are an important step back to America, but they cannot replace the status and role of the CLARITY Act.

The SEC addresses the issue of how tokens are issued and financed, while the CLARITY Act addresses the regulation of the entire encryption market. Ultimately, the new rules will be a new starting point for US encryption regulation, depending on feedback from comments over the next 60 days, changes to the final version of the SEC, etc.