The U.S. Securities and Change Fee is entering into the blockchain period with a daring new initiative referred to as Challenge Crypto. Beneath Chair Paul Atkins, the company is aiming to modernize monetary markets by bringing core infrastructure like buying and selling, custody, and fundraising onto public and permissioned blockchains. The plan is formidable, however so is the scale of the issue it’s making an attempt to repair.
Atkins Needs to Ditch Outdated Guidelines
Talking on the America First Coverage Institute, Atkins didn’t maintain again. He mentioned it plainly: U.S. markets are caught utilizing analog-era guidelines that don’t work for digital belongings. With Challenge Crypto, the SEC desires to construct a rulebook that matches how crypto really works at this time, not how conventional finance operated 50 years in the past. It’s a transparent message that regulators are lastly beginning to meet the business the place it’s.
#BREAKING: SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins simply unveiled “Challenge Crypto,” a blueprint to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world and transfer the usfinancial markets on-chain.
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Sorting Out Which Tokens Are Securities
One of many greatest complications within the crypto world has all the time been figuring out whether or not a token constitutes a safety. Beneath this new initiative, the SEC will develop clear standards for that. Atkins believes that the majority crypto belongings shouldn’t be mechanically labeled as funding contracts. As a substitute of defaulting to enforcement, the SEC will provide steerage that builders and issuers can observe to keep away from ending up in authorized scorching water.
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Tokenized Shares and Crypto Tremendous-Apps Get a Inexperienced Mild
Challenge Crypto may even help the expansion of tokenized monetary merchandise—assume shares, funds, and even ETFs issued and traded straight on-chain. These merchandise would function inside licensed platforms that mix custody, buying and selling, lending, and different providers beneath one roof. Atkins advised this mannequin might take away state-by-state licensing complications and let the U.S. compete with world monetary hubs that already help these improvements.
Making Room for ICOs, Airdrops, and Different Onchain Fundraising
The SEC can be contemplating new exemptions and secure harbors for widespread crypto fundraising strategies like ICOs and airdrops. If accredited, these would give startups extra respiration room to boost capital with out being buried in purple tape. The aim right here is to carry token launches again to U.S. soil, relatively than pushing them offshore as a result of authorized uncertainty.
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Custody Guidelines Catch As much as Actuality
The best way folks retailer and safe digital belongings has developed, and the SEC appears able to catch up. Challenge Crypto consists of plans to replace custody rules, making house for each self-custody wallets and institutional suppliers. This might take away a significant compliance impediment for corporations trying to serve U.S. traders whereas utilizing fashionable safety fashions.
Based mostly on Broader White Home Suggestions
This complete effort stems from a bigger digital asset coverage push out of the White Home. A 160-page roadmap laid out key priorities like defining token classes, bettering DeFi oversight, and fostering innovation. The SEC is now translating these concepts into sensible adjustments that may reshape how digital belongings are handled throughout the nation.
What to Count on Subsequent
The SEC plans to begin drafting proposals over the following few months. That would embody formal rule adjustments, new definitions, and even momentary aid for some actions. What’s clear is that Atkins desires this course of to maneuver quick, chopping by means of legacy purple tape that has slowed crypto’s progress within the U.S.
A Pivot Away From the Previous SEC Playbook
For years, the SEC has leaned arduous on enforcement. Challenge Crypto flips that narrative. Atkins desires the company to be a information, not a roadblock. As a substitute of regulating by means of lawsuits, the SEC desires to supply actual instruments and pathways for compliance. That alone marks a severe change in tone.
Challenge Crypto might be the beginning of a extra balanced method to digital asset regulation within the U.S. With clearer guidelines and fewer authorized landmines, the crypto business may lastly be capable of develop inside the American system as a substitute of round it.
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Key Takeaways
- The SEC launched Challenge Crypto to maneuver key market capabilities like buying and selling, custody, and fundraising onto blockchain infrastructure.
- Chair Paul Atkins mentioned legacy guidelines not match fashionable crypto markets, pushing for a rulebook that displays how digital belongings really work.
- Challenge Crypto consists of clearer steerage on token classifications, help for tokenized shares, and on-chain fundraising strategies like ICOs and airdrops.
- Custody rules can be up to date to accommodate each institutional options and self-custody wallets utilized by on a regular basis traders.
- The SEC is transferring away from regulation-by-enforcement, providing actual instruments and authorized readability to maintain crypto innovation on U.S. soil.
The publish SEC Launches Project Crypto to Move Markets Onto Blockchain appeared first on 99Bitcoins.

