October 20, 2026
Blockchain Association Submits Comments Urging SEC to Make Regulation Crypto Assets Workable for Builders, Investors, and U.S. Markets
Washington, D.C. (October 20, 2026) – Blockchain Association today submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on proposed Regulation Crypto Assets. The proposal sets out how crypto projects can raise capital, launch networks, and move beyond securities treatment once holders no longer rely on the essential managerial efforts of the project’s developers.
Blockchain Association supports the proposal and, drawing on the experience of its members, recommends updates so that the rules work in practice for the startups, developers, and market participants they are designed to serve.
“Regulation Crypto Assets is a significant step toward durable, fit-for-purpose rules for crypto in the United States,” said Ashok Pinto, Executive Vice President of Legal and Government Relations at Blockchain Association. “Chairman Atkins and the Commission have given developers a path to raise capital and launch networks here at home, and the safe harbor addresses a question the industry has been asking for years. Our recommendations are focused on making that path workable for the builders it is meant to serve.”
Blockchain Association asks the Commission to set clear, objective standards. That includes providing nonexclusive indicators for when an issuer’s essential managerial efforts have ended. Such sufficient but not necessary indicators should include publicly available source code and the absence of any party with the unilateral ability to censor transactions or change the network’s functionality or rules. The letter also urges the Commission to write key parts of its recent Howey guidance, including its treatment of airdrops, into the rule itself so that guidance carries lasting legal weight.
The letter argues that responsibility should follow control. Projects should be accountable for what they control, and third-party applications and community activity fall outside that. Exchanges, liquidity providers, and other market participants that rely in good faith on a project’s filing with the SEC should be protected if the Commission later reaches a different conclusion.
Blockchain Association also asks the Commission to make the safe harbor practical for assets already in the market. That includes allowing trading platforms and other third parties to file on behalf of tokens that were issued before the rule takes effect, confirming that a filing is not an admission that a token was ever a security, and allowing projects to submit their supporting legal analysis confidentially.
To give early-stage projects room to build, Blockchain Association recommends raising the Startup Exemption limit from $5 million to $10 million and keeping airdrops and network rewards from counting against it. It also recommends raising the limit for larger offerings to $150 million and recognizing that onchain transparency can give investors much of what audited financial statements are meant to provide. The letter further asks the Commission to accommodate serial entrepreneurs and decentralized teams.
The letter asks the Commission to strengthen preemption of state registration requirements. It also asks the Commission to address the intermediary registration questions on which liquid secondary markets depend.
“Chairman Atkins and the entire Commission have done critical work to give this industry clarity it has sought for years, and we’re grateful for their leadership,” said Jack Solowey, Senior Counsel for Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Blockchain Association. “Clear rules give builders the confidence to launch here, users the confidence to participate in markets, and the United States the foundation to lead in this technology. Our recommendations are meant to help this framework deliver on that promise.”
Blockchain Association looks forward to continued engagement with the Commission as the rule is finalized. The full comment letter is available here.
About Blockchain Association
Blockchain Association is the unified voice of the cryptocurrency industry. Our members include the sector’s leading investors, companies, and projects, working together to support a future-forward, pro-innovation national policy and regulatory framework for the crypto economy. Find us at theblockchainassociation.org. Follow us @BlockchainAssn.