The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently issued a statement on tokenized securities and, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced that Project Crypto will move forward as a joint initiative between the two agencies.
These developments signal meaningful momentum toward regulatory clarity and coordination for digital asset markets.
Against this backdrop, the Crypto Council for Innovation and Superstate submitted a letter to the SEC expressing strong support for Project Crypto and for the Commission’s renewed, constructive engagement with market participants.
Our message is straightforward: the U.S. regulatory framework should evolve alongside market innovation, applying existing securities laws where appropriate while providing clear guidance where they do not apply. Project Crypto offers a practical path to do just that.
Our letter makes four core points:
1. Modern markets need modern rules
U.S. markets are dynamic and forward looking. Regulatory frameworks should reflect those values rather than rely on assumptions built for an analog era. As digital asset adoption grows and financial activity increasingly moves onchain, regulators face an important task: applying existing securities laws where appropriate while clearly carving out activities and assets that fall outside their scope.
Where federal securities laws apply, we respectfully urge the Commission to use all its available tools, including exemptive relief and staff guidance, to develop a comprehensive, workable, and principles-based framework for tokenized securities trading. Where federal securities laws do not apply, the Commission should clearly confirm and carve out such activity.
A technology-neutral approach remains essential. That does not mean ignoring blockchain’s unique features; it means grounding regulation in enduring principles focused on functions and risks rather than specific technologies that may evolve. This has long been the Commission’s approach and has helped keep U.S. markets resilient and competitive.
2. Clarity is already emerging
Over the past year, the SEC and its Crypto Task Force have taken meaningful steps to clarify key regulatory questions. Recent staff statements and actions addressing staking, mining, custody, disclosures, transfer agents, crypto related exchange-traded products, and more have provided useful direction to market participants. This progress demonstrates that constructive dialogue works. It also shows that thoughtful guidance can reduce uncertainty, improve compliance, and foster responsible innovation without sacrificing investor protection.
We also welcome continued coordination with the CFTC to reduce fragmentation and promote regulatory coherence.
3. Exemptive relief is an appropriate and time-tested tool
The letter emphasizes that the SEC’s use of exemptive relief and staff guidance is both lawful and consistent with the Commission’s longstanding practice of supporting financial innovation while protecting investors.
For example, exchange traded funds, alternative trading systems, and other now mainstream market innovations were initially allowed to develop through targeted exemptive relief and no-action guidance. Over time, those early experiments informed durable rulemaking that strengthened markets and expanded access for investors. Indeed, the SEC’s use of exemption and no-action relief has directly enabled financial innovations that have transformed the capital markets over the past fifty years.
Tokenized securities warrant a similar approach. Clear rules remain the ultimate goal, but interim relief allows regulators and market participants to test new models, gather data, and refine safeguards which can better inform lasting frameworks.
4. Concerns around tokenized securities trading are addressable
Tokenized securities raise important questions around data dissemination, price discovery, investor protection, and oversight. These concerns should be taken seriously, but they are far from insurmountable.
Blockchain technology can enhance transparency and auditability. Investor protections and oversight obligations can be built into the conditions attached to exemptive relief so that only venues or onchain trading protocols that meet certain investor protection and oversight requirements may operate under such relief. Pilot programs can provide regulators with real world data to inform future rulemaking. For these reasons, such concerns strengthen the case for measured experimentation, engagement, and conditional relief, not delay or prohibition.
Outlook
Project Crypto offers a way forward that aligns with the SEC’s mission to protect investors, maintain fair and orderly markets, and facilitate capital formation. It also reinforces U.S. leadership at a time when global competition for financial innovation is intensifying.
As Chairman Paul Atkins has noted, when regulation meets innovation with thoughtfulness rather than fear, American leadership grows stronger. A principles-based, technology-neutral approach supported by exemptive authority and engagement is not a new approach. It is how the U.S. markets have successfully navigated financial innovation for decades.
Project Crypto, now a joint effort between the SEC and CFTC, utilizes this same approach for 21st century markets. CCI stands ready to continue working with the both agencies to ensure this moment translates into lasting progress for U.S. markets and investors alike.
