SEC Unveils 2026 Crypto Rulemaking Agenda, Targets Exchanges and Broker-Dealers

The U.S. Securities and Change Fee has positioned cryptocurrency regulation amongst its prime priorities for 2026, releasing a regulatory agenda that lays out plans to rewrite key guidelines governing exchanges, broker-dealers, and digital asset custody.

Agenda Alerts Broad Shift in Crypto Oversight

The SEC launched its 2026 Regulatory Agenda on Tuesday, which spans proposed adjustments starting from decreasing compliance burdens for rising corporations to permitting semi-annual reporting, with crypto standing out as one of many company’s greatest regulatory priorities. The agenda consists of three distinct proposed rule adjustments: one addressing crypto broker-dealers, one other regarding digital belongings traded on various buying and selling techniques and nationwide securities exchanges, and a 3rd exploring potential exemptions and protected harbors for digital belongings.

Dealer-Vendor Guidelines Below Evaluation

The SEC is contemplating amending a rule requiring brokers to keep up a minimal quantity of liquid capital, together with a separate rule designed to guard buyer belongings if a dealer turns into bancrupt. The company can be in search of to switch recordkeeping guidelines for broker-dealers, with all three adjustments aimed toward addressing how these guidelines apply to crypto belongings. Based on reporting from Crypto Briefing, the centerpiece of the agenda is a set of proposed amendments filed beneath RIN 3235-AN48, focusing on the monetary accountability, recordkeeping, and reporting guidelines that govern broker-dealers dealing with crypto belongings.

SEC plans crypto rule adjustments for exchanges and dealer sellers in 2026 regulatory agenda

Change and Buying and selling Platform Adjustments

Past broker-dealers, the agenda additionally contemplates adjustments to guidelines governing crypto buying and selling on various buying and selling techniques and nationwide securities exchanges, with custody requirements additionally on the desk. The SEC framed the proposal as obligatory to assist make clear the regulatory framework for crypto belongings and supply higher certainty to the market, notably by establishing clear guidelines for the issuance, custody, and buying and selling of crypto belongings whereas persevering with to discourage unhealthy actors from violating the regulation.

Protection from crypto.information famous that the SEC’s Company Rule Record reveals the fee contemplating separate rulemaking initiatives overlaying crypto belongings broadly, crypto broker-dealers particularly, and crypto market construction total. 

A Deliberate Departure From the Gensler Period

Over the previous yr since SEC Chair Paul Atkins took the helm, the company has adopted a friendlier method to crypto, taking the overarching place that clearer guidelines are wanted, together with by way of extra tailor-made guidelines and exemptions. This marks a major departure from the tenure of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, throughout which the company took a extra cautious stance, pursued enforcement actions in opposition to a number of main crypto corporations, and maintained that many cryptocurrencies certified as securities — an method that drew criticism from trade individuals and lawmakers who argued the SEC relied too closely on regulation by way of enforcement. A lot of these enforcement instances have since been dropped.

Cointelegraph reported that SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated the 2026 agenda was supposed to align with the Trump administration’s coverage objectives on crypto, together with clarification on tokenized securities and capital elevating with digital belongings. Nevertheless, the outlet additionally famous that the SEC’s method beneath Trump and Atkins has drawn accusations from critics of a “pay-to-play scheme,” with Democratic lawmakers alleging in a January letter that Trump and his associates financially benefited from corporations — together with Binance, Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Kraken — that had beforehand confronted enforcement actions later dropped by the company.

Secure Harbors and Exemptions on the Horizon

One of many extra intently watched parts of the agenda is the prospect of recent exemptions. In March, the SEC joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in releasing steering asserting that the majority cryptocurrencies usually are not securities, whereas additionally outlining when a digital asset would stop to be categorised as a safety.

Individually, steering from the SEC’s Division of Buying and selling and Markets has already begun reshaping broker-dealer follow round crypto. In Might 2025, the division launched FAQ-style steering clarifying that broker-dealers could custody non-security crypto belongings, deal with crypto asset securities as held at a permissible management location, conduct non-security crypto companies, maintain crypto belongings as proprietary positions for internet capital functions topic to relevant haircuts, and interact in in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto exchange-traded merchandise.

Legislative Backdrop

The SEC’s rulemaking push is unfolding alongside ongoing congressional efforts. The CLARITY Act awaits a Senate vote as lawmakers work to reconcile competing variations earlier than an August 7 deadline. Reporting from Grafa famous that the SEC stated the adjustments are supposed to offer higher regulatory certainty whereas Congress considers broader cryptocurrency market laws.

What Comes Subsequent

The proposals stay at an early stage. Not one of the rule adjustments have been formally revealed in textual content type, and public remark durations haven’t but opened. Market individuals — from exchanges and broker-dealers to early-stage token issuers — are anticipated to observe intently for the discharge of proposed rule textual content, which is able to decide the precise scope of recent compliance obligations. Given the SEC’s acknowledged intent to maneuver away from “regulation by enforcement” towards outlined rulemaking, the approaching months are more likely to carry the clearest image but of how U.S. securities regulation will formally deal with digital belongings.