Crypto Firms Test SEC's IPO Revival Before Rules Are Final

The SEC gave its IPO revival campaign a name that sounds like a campaign slogan: "Make IPOs Great Again." Chairman Paul S. Atkins wants to reverse two decades of declining public listings, and two crypto infrastructure firms have already filed confidential S-1 registration statements in May 2026.

Blockchain.com, which runs one of the most widely used crypto wallets globally, and FalconX, a major institutional digital asset brokerage, both filed. Filing an S-1 confidentially is step one of a multi-step process. Plenty of companies have filed S-1s that never resulted in actual IPOs.

The SEC released two rule proposals on May 19. The first expands access to shelf registrations like Form S-3, letting companies pre-register securities and sell them later when market conditions are favorable. The second raises the large accelerated filer threshold from $700 million to $2 billion, cutting compliance costs for mid-sized firms.

The numbers behind the push are stark. The number of US Exchange Act reporting companies fell from 6,996 in 2004 to 5,976 in 2024, a roughly 15% decline over two decades. Private markets ballooned while public listings shrank.

For crypto, the stakes are higher than just another IPO pathway. Right now, public crypto exposure means buying Coinbase, mining stocks, or MicroStrategy (MSTR). AlphaScala scores MSTR at 22 out of 100, a Weak label, reflecting its leveraged bitcoin strategy and thin equity cushion. A wave of crypto IPOs would expand that menu dramatically.

More public crypto companies also means more transparency. Public companies file quarterly reports, disclose executive compensation, and face audit requirements. For an industry that has historically struggled with trust – specifically because of opaque private companies like FTX – moving more firms onto public exchanges could be genuinely healthy for market integrity.

The public comment period for these proposals runs until July 27, 2026. The SEC has scheduled an event titled "Rethinking the Rulebook" for July 13, 2026.

For crypto specifically, there is an additional variable: whether the broader regulatory framework for digital assets solidifies enough to give potential IPO candidates the legal clarity they need. A company cannot easily go public if it is still unclear whether half its products might be deemed unregistered securities. That uncertainty is the risk to watch.