SEC Reportedly Sends Crypto Framework to White House
The SEC has reportedly submitted a proposed crypto framework to the White House for review. The proposal is said to define what constitutes a security, establish rules for token launches, and clarify regulations for exchanges. The move is being interpreted by some as a potentially bullish step toward long-awaited regulatory clarity in the U.S.
The submitted guidance is now under review by the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a gatekeeper for federal rulemaking. OIRA's role is to ensure any significant regulation aligns with the administration's policies and is economically sound before it can be finalized. This move represents a significant pivot from the previous SEC administration under Gary Gensler, which favored a "regulation-by-enforcement" approach that led to numerous lawsuits against crypto firms like Coinbase and Binance. The current SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, has criticized the prior era as a "missed opportunity" and is pushing to establish a clearer compliance framework. The core of the proposal is expected to be a "token taxonomy," a system for classifying digital assets. This framework would likely create categories such as digital commodities, digital collectibles, and tokenized securities, clarifying the jurisdictional lines between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). While the SEC pursues this agency-level guidance, Congress has been working on its own legislative solutions. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), which builds on the FIT21 bill passed by the House in 2024, is currently stalled in the Senate but aims to create a comprehensive market structure. The CFTC is also moving in parallel, having recently submitted its own measures on prediction markets for review. This suggests a broader, albeit complex, effort across the U.S. government to establish clear rules for different facets of the digital asset industry. For institutional investors, this regulatory clarity is a primary hurdle to wider adoption. A clear framework is seen as the number one catalyst that could unlock further participation from banks and asset managers, building on the momentum from the 2024 approvals of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETPs.
