SEC Vote Friday Opens Public Comment on Crypto Raise Rules

The third item serves a different purpose. It would create a safe harbor for certain crypto assets after an issuer completes or permanently ceases the essential managerial efforts it promised buyers. The SEC's March interpretation already explains how a non-security crypto asset may separate from an investment contract. That interpretation preserves the requirement that the original offering be registered or qualify for an exemption. The first two tracks govern fundraising; the third concerns the asset's status after the issuer's work ends. None of these changes erases an earlier registration obligation.

No draft text has been released. The published agenda does not say which issuers or offerings qualify. The agenda also leaves open whether bad-actor exclusions or investor-level caps apply. How tokens bought under either exemption would be resold is also unspecified. Eligibility and resale rules separate a broadly useful channel from one open to only a few project types. Atkins's example figures may not have survived staff drafting, and the four-year window is equally unconfirmed. Until the draft appears, project teams cannot tell whether either track fits their structure.

The federal regulatory agenda describes a crypto-assets project that may cover offers, sales, exemptions and safe harbors, without supplying operative terms. The agenda says the draft rules released after Friday's vote will define the program's scale and identify the issuers able to claim it. Atkins has said only Congress can fully settle crypto regulation through comprehensive market-structure legislation. He has also said the SEC can pursue nearer-term relief under existing authority.

The open meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 14.