SEC's Long-Promised Crypto Safe Harbor to Be Introduced as Soon as This Month

By Sander Lutz

The SEC said Tuesday it plans to introduce its long-awaited crypto rulemaking as soon as this month, bringing the agency a step closer to establishing a regulatory safe harbor for certain crypto-related activities in the United States.

An updated SEC agenda for 2026 has the rule penciled in for a potential July release, which would then be followed by a period of public comment on the proposed policies.

The rules would govern the offer and sale of crypto assets, and also include "certain exemptions and safe harbors" for various types of on-chain financial activity.

The agenda update marks the clearest indication yet that the SEC is preparing to formally unveil its Regulation Crypto proposal, which agency chair Paul Atkins has teased for months, and initially said would be rolled out in January.

The exemptions would hand crypto companies a guarantee that activity in certain areas, such as tokenized securities and decentralized finance, or DeFi, would not trigger enforcement action from the SEC.

"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," Atkins said Tuesday in a statement.

In March, the SEC chair said a crypto safe harbor could apply to startups worth up to $5 million seeking to experiment with crypto assets in their first four years; to entrepreneurs raising up to $75 million via investment contracts involving certain crypto assets; and to certain crypto assets once their creators have ceased all essential managerial efforts.

Atkins previously emphasized that the uncertain status of Congress’ Clarity Act—a sweeping bill that would legalize most crypto activity in the United States—had impacted the SEC’s rollout of its own crypto rules.

After over a year of starts and stops, the Clarity Act faces a do-or-die next few weeks in the Senate. Stakeholders broadly agree that if the bill does not pass by August, it is unlikely to become law this year, due to the looming November midterm elections.

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