The SEC's sweeping Regulation Crypto Assets framework — covering startup exemptions, fundraising relief, and an investment contract safe harbour — is now at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the final gate before public comment.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's first comprehensive rulemaking for digital assets has landed on the desk of the White House's regulatory review office, SEC Chair Paul Atkins confirmed on Monday at the Digital Assets and Emerging Technology Policy Summit.
"We will have reg crypto that we will be proposing here shortly," Atkins told the audience. "It's in fact at OIRA right now, which is the next step before being published."
OIRA — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division within the Office of Management and Budget — is the last bureaucratic checkpoint before a proposed rule appears in the Federal Register for public comment. The review typically takes between 30 and 90 days, though the current administration has pushed agencies to expedite crypto-related rulemaking. If the timeline holds, Reg Crypto could be open for industry feedback before the end of Q2.
The proposal covers three distinct mechanisms, each targeting a different stage of a crypto project's lifecycle. The first is a startup exemption that would allow early-stage projects to raise a defined amount of capital over four years with lighter disclosure requirements than a traditional securities registration demands. The second is a fundraising exemption permitting issuers to raise a set amount within 12 months while "retaining the ability to rely on other exemptions from registration under the federal securities laws," according to the SEC's outline published in mid-March. The third — and the one the industry has lobbied hardest for — is an investment contract safe harbour that would remove an asset from the definition of a security once the project team has ceased all managerial efforts "represented or promised" as part of the original investment contract.
That third pillar matters because it addresses the central tension that has hung over crypto markets for nearly a decade: when does a token stop being a security? Under the current framework — or lack of one — that question has been answered case by case, usually through enforcement actions. The safe harbour would create a defined off-ramp, giving projects a clear path from fundraising vehicle to decentralised network token without the perpetual threat of an SEC lawsuit.
The shift from Gary Gensler's enforcement-first regime to Atkins's rulemaking approach has been swift. Since taking the chair, Atkins has dropped the majority of pending crypto enforcement cases and signalled repeatedly that the agency would build frameworks rather than pursue litigation. The SEC and CFTC jointly classified 16 cryptocurrencies as digital commodities in March, providing the clearest regulatory taxonomy the industry has seen from Washington.
Atkins emphasised at the summit that the commission wanted to "hear from the marketplace" to make the proposal "workable" — language that suggests the published version will be a starting point for negotiation rather than a near-final text. That is typical for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, but in crypto the stakes are unusually high; the definitions embedded in Reg Crypto will likely determine which tokens can be traded on regulated exchanges, which projects can raise money from American investors, and how much ongoing disclosure the SEC will demand.
The timing is not accidental. Congress is simultaneously working on the Crypto Clarity Act, a sweeping market structure bill that would divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC and establish rules for stablecoin yield payments. Senator Cynthia Lummis has said she expects a markup hearing in the latter half of April. By pushing Reg Crypto through OIRA now, the SEC positions itself to shape the regulatory landscape through administrative rulemaking regardless of whether Congress manages to pass legislation before midterm election politics consume the calendar.
Industry reaction has been cautiously optimistic. The Blockchain Association, which has spent months lobbying for precisely this kind of rulemaking, has argued that DeFi protocol developers should not be treated as brokers or dealers — a position the safe harbour language appears to accommodate, at least partially. Traditional finance has been less enthusiastic; Citadel Securities wrote to the SEC in December arguing that decentralised finance protocols should face stricter oversight, a position the Blockchain Association publicly challenged this week.
The practical impact will depend entirely on the details — the dollar thresholds for each exemption, the disclosure requirements attached to them, and the precise conditions under which the safe harbour applies. A generous framework could accelerate American crypto development at a pace not seen since the ICO era. A restrictive one could push the industry to do what it has always done when Washington disappoints: move offshore.
Atkins, for his part, appeared confident. The SEC has "enough authority" to drive crypto rules forward in 2026, he told the summit, adding that additional measures were being incorporated alongside the safe harbours and exemptive relief. Publication, he said, was imminent.
