Michael Saylor Demands Regulatory Clarity as US Grapples with Crypto’s Legal Definition

MicroStrategy's Bitcoin evangelist joins growing calls for decisive action—while Wall Street still tries to price 'digital tulips.'

Regulatory limbo leaves industry in holding pattern

The SEC's 'regulation by enforcement' approach faces mounting criticism as lawmakers scramble to draft comprehensive frameworks. Saylor's public push coincides with leaked Treasury documents suggesting new asset classification proposals by Q4 2025.

Institutional players hedge bets

Meanwhile, custody giants like Coinbase and Fidelity quietly build compliance war chests—just in case the bureaucrats actually figure out what they're regulating.

White House, SEC are taking action

Saylor’s comments come as the WHITE House Working Group on Digital Asset Markets called on federal regulators on Wednesday to move more promptly to clarify crypto rules around custody, trading, registration and record-keeping.

In a speech on Thursday, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said much of the tokenization innovation is occurring offshore due to regulatory challenges in the US.

However, he revealed that companies “are lined up at our doors with requests to tokenize” and that he has told SEC staff to “provide relief where appropriate” to ensure the US remains competitive as the digital asset industry evolves.

Legislation to make crypto definitions clearer is in the works

Congress is also preparing to review the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 in September — a bill which Saylor thinks would “create a very rich framework” for the crypto industry and everyday businesses looking to issue, trade, or tokenize assets onchain.

“In the ideal world, 40,000,000 businesses would be able to issue a token in four hours for $40,” Saylor said.

Robinhood is betting big on tokenization

Meanwhile, Robinhood is betting big on crypto tokenization, with a particular focus on unlocking access to private markets for everyday investors in the US, CEO Vladimir Tenev said during the firm’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday

“Private markets and related real-world assets are opportunities that don’t exist up until now,” and “we’re working with regulators to make that possible.”

Robinhood has already issued private equity tokens in Europe that resemble OpenAI and SpaceX shares.

However, Robinhood’s tokenization offerings recently sparked a legal inquiry in Lithuania, while OpenAI warned that Robinhood’s OpenAI token bears no connection to the company’s actual equity.