SEC’s Project Crypto: The Bold On-Chain Revolution Reshaping US Markets
The SEC just dropped a blockchain bombshell—and Wall Street's legacy systems are sweating.
Project Crypto isn't just another regulatory sandbox. It's the agency's full-throated endorsement of distributed ledger technology as the backbone for America's financial infrastructure. Finally, the suits in DC are speaking our language.
Why This Matters
Forget 'crypto-friendly'—this is crypto-integrated. The initiative aims to migrate core market operations onto public blockchains, from settlement to shareholder voting. No more 3-day trade settlements. No more opaque corporate actions. Just immutable transparency.
The Ironic Twist
Of course, the same regulators who spent years cracking down on DeFi are now building their own chain. Talk about a 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' pivot—with taxpayer funding and all the usual bureaucratic overhead.
One thing's certain: when the SEC starts shilling blockchain tech, even your Boomer portfolio manager will finally stop calling it 'magic internet money.'
Making U.S. global crypto market leader
SEC’s latest crypto related initiative comes a day after the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets released its highly anticipated report.
Among its areas of focus are recommendations to federal agencies, including the SEC, to establish a crypto framework aimed at ensuring the U.S. maintains its dominance in global digital asset markets.
Project Crypto builds on this broader effort, with the SEC seeking to implement the PWG recommendations swiftly. The plan includes creating clear and simple rules for crypto distributions, custody, and trading in the U.S.
“While the Commission staff works to finalize these regulations, the Commission and its staff will in the coming months consider using interpretative, exemptive, and other authorities to make sure that archaic rules and regulations do not smother innovation and entrepreneurship in America,” Atkins added.
SEC sees Project Crypto as part of the efforts to not just bring financial markets on-chain, but also return all the crypto businesses pushed offshore during Gary Gensler’s tenure as SEC chair.
In recent months, under the TRUMP administration, the SEC has withdrawn lawsuits and ended several investigations that were pursued under Gensler’s heavily criticized regulation-by-enforcement approach. The agency has since issued statements clarifying its positions and signaling a complete shift away from its prior anti-crypto stance.
