U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins stated that the agency will enter 2026 with an extremely busy and accelerated agenda regarding crypto assets, adding, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
SEC Chairman Atkins: “You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet” Rapid Steps for Crypto Coming in the New Year
Speaking at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit in Washington, DC, Atkins said that policy drafts prepared in recent months will turn into concrete steps in the new year.
Atkins stated, “All the seeds we plant this year will begin to sprout next year. Then we will reap the rewards,” drawing particular attention to the work related to the legal classification of digital assets.
Atkins, who took office last month, announced a “token taxonomy” plan to clarify when cryptocurrencies qualify as securities. He also launched “Project Crypto,” an initiative aimed at updating the SEC’s rules on digital assets, and introduced an “innovation exemption” mechanism to expedite the launch of crypto products.
This approach is a distinct departure from the tougher, litigation-focused stance of his predecessor, Gary Gensler, towards crypto. Under Gensler, the SEC sued numerous large crypto companies and faced criticism for classifying many tokens as securities.
Atkins said one of the first items on the agenda for the new year would be an “innovation exemption” that would provide conditional and time-limited regulatory flexibility for fintech and crypto projects. He indicated that this regulation could be published towards the end of January.
Regarding token taxonomy, Atkins emphasized that the ball is in Congress’s court, noting that a comprehensive bill on crypto regulation is being pushed forward rapidly in the Senate, but the negotiations are fragile. “We’ll see what Congress comes up with by then,” he said.
*This is not investment advice.