SEC Chair Reveals Crypto Firms May Get a Regulatory Shortcut by Year-End, Here’s What It Means

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could soon introduce a new rule designed to give crypto companies more room to innovate.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said on Tuesday that the agency is working toward a year-end deadline to establish an “innovation exemption,” a regulatory carve-out that would allow digital asset firms to roll out new products without being immediately weighed down by traditional compliance requirements.

A shift toward crypto-friendly regulation

The proposal comes as part of a broader policy shift under President Donald Trump’s administration, which has made a deliberate effort to ease regulatory burdens on the crypto industry.

Since January, the SEC has dropped several enforcement actions initiated under former chair Gary Gensler and has launched a dedicated crypto task force.

The goal, Atkins said, is to provide a “stable platform” where companies can test and introduce blockchain-based products while the agency works on long-term rulemaking.

Atkins first floated the idea of an exemption in July, positioning it as a mechanism for businesses experimenting with blockchain and tokenization to avoid rules that may be “incompatible or overly prescriptive.”

The concept echoes earlier calls from policymakers, such as SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s 2020 “safe harbor” proposal, which aimed to give token projects a temporary regulatory window to build without immediate classification as securities.

Balancing innovation and market oversight

Atkins emphasized that while the exemption would create breathing space for startups, the SEC still intends to strengthen oversight of the crypto sector.

He noted that new rules for digital assets are already being drafted and could be rolled out in the months ahead. The challenge, according to Atkins, is ensuring that regulation protects investors without stifling new technologies.

Beyond crypto, Atkins also pointed to concerns about the overall decline in U.S. public markets, noting that the number of listed companies is roughly half of what it was three decades ago.

He said boosting initial public offerings remains a priority, quipping that he wanted to “make IPOs great again,” in a nod to the Trump administration’s broader messaging.

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