Last week, the White House released a landmark report on digital financial technology, signaling a coordinated federal push to modernize crypto regulation. The report, issued by the President’s Working Group on Digital Assets, calls for a fit-for-purpose framework to support the responsible growth of blockchain technology across the economy. It recommends that the SEC and CFTC coordinate on digital asset rulemaking, create safe harbors for early-stage tokens and decentralized infrastructure, and clarify the regulatory treatment of DeFi. The report also urges the SEC to explore tailored exemptions for digital asset securities and the CFTC to expand guidance for commodity classification and spot crypto trading.
Notably, SEC Chair Paul Atkins declared that “most crypto assets are not securities” and announced the launch of Project Crypto, a commission-wide initiative to revise disclosure, custody and market structure rules to reflect the realities of on-chain financial activity. Atkins outlined a vision for onshoring crypto capital markets and creating regulatory pathways for token distributions, staking and multi-asset “super-apps.”
Meanwhile, the CFTC announced a crypto “sprint” to implement the White House recommendations and advance a spot trading regime, aligning with the Administration’s goal of making the U.S. the global crypto capital. In Congress, the House and Senate are out of session for the August recess and expected to return on September 2.
