In a significant pivot that marks a new chapter for cryptocurrency regulation in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has made a striking omission in its fiscal year 2026 examination priorities. For the first time in years, the agency's detailed 17-page document, outlining focus areas for investment advisers, funds, broker-dealers, and market utilities, makes no mention of crypto assets, digital assets, virtual currency, or blockchain. This clear departure from the explicit prioritization of crypto in 2024 and 2025 signals a profound shift in the SEC's approach, moving away from treating crypto as a standalone risk category.
A Marked Change in Regulatory Stance
The absence of crypto from the 2026 priorities is not merely an oversight; it's a deliberate choice that reflects a broader change in policy and enforcement philosophy. In previous years, crypto assets were prominently featured. For instance, the SEC's 2024 priorities included a dedicated section titled “Crypto Assets and Emerging Financial Technology,” explicitly stating that examinations would target firms active in crypto assets and related products. The 2025 priorities continued this trend, referencing crypto assets alongside critical risk areas like AI, cybersecurity, and anti-money laundering (AML).
A quick comparison highlights the dramatic shift:
- 2024: Crypto named as a distinct risk with a dedicated section and multiple mentions of “crypto” or equivalent terms.
- 2025: Crypto listed among key risks with explicit headings and multiple references.
- 2026: Zero mention of crypto as a distinct risk or in any section.
Instead, the 2026 document on emerging financial technology now centers on automated advice, algorithms, and artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on whether these tools produce compliant recommendations. Other cross-cutting priorities remain, including information security, operational resiliency, identity theft, compliance with the amended Regulation S-P, and AML measures. The message is clear: while underlying risks associated with technology and finance endure, crypto will no longer be singled out for specialized scrutiny.
The Policy and Personnel Backdrop
This strategic redirection isn't happening in a vacuum. It's underpinned by significant developments in both White House policy and SEC leadership. The shift began in early 2025 with the White House pivoting its directives to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets. This included limiting federal work on central bank digital currency and establishing a President’s Working Group on digital asset markets. A subsequent March fact sheet further solidified this stance by focusing on a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. digital asset stockpile, reframing crypto as a strategic asset rather than merely a speculative market corner.
Within the SEC, new leadership has also played a pivotal role. Paul S. Atkins was sworn in as Chair in April 2025. Known for advocating a lighter regulatory approach and prioritizing capital formation, Atkins' appointment signaled a potential departure from previous enforcement-heavy strategies. Complementing this change, Meg Ryan's appointment as enforcement director in September was widely interpreted as a move toward a more nuanced enforcement posture, rather than the aggressive pace seen in previous eras.
A Reset in Enforcement Actions
Evidence of this new posture is already visible in enforcement trends. After a record-setting 46 crypto-related enforcement actions in 2023, the number dropped by approximately 30% to 33 in 2024. While overall enforcement actions across the agency decreased in fiscal year 2024, financial remedies reached a record $8.2 billion, heavily influenced by large, legacy settlements like Terraform Labs. This suggests a shift toward fewer cases, but with significant headline penalties often tied to earlier conduct, rather than a torrent of new filings.
Under Chair Atkins, several high-profile legacy matters have been narrowed or resolved. The SEC concluded its long-running Ripple case with a $125 million penalty and an injunction limited to institutional sales, a less severe outcome than many anticipated. The agency also closed its investigation into Robinhood’s crypto business without charges. Perhaps most notably, reports indicate the SEC moved to dismiss its lawsuit against Coinbase, which had alleged unregistered exchange activity and staking products.
“These outcomes, alongside the 2026 priorities, point to a regulatory reset where examinations and enforcement are converging on a narrower posture, focusing on fraud, custody, marketing, AML, and operational risk through technology-neutral rules, rather than treating tokens as a separate supervisory lane.”
Navigating Market Realities with Topic-Agnostic Lenses
The SEC’s shift comes even as the crypto market matures and integrates further into traditional finance. The global crypto market capitalization surpassed $4 trillion in July 2025, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracting roughly $35.7 billion in net inflows during 2024, continuing robust flows throughout most of 2025. The investor base now includes large asset managers, broker-dealers, and retirement channels, all of which fall squarely within the SEC’s examination perimeter.
Despite significant market volatility, with Bitcoin dipping below $90,000 from an October peak above $126,000, and Ethereum trading under $3,000 after the broader market shed approximately $1 trillion in six weeks, the SEC’s exam program remains steadfast in its topic-agnostic approach. These market fluctuations naturally test custody arrangements, liquidity management, and marketing suitability within regulated channels. However, the SEC plans to address these risks through existing frameworks such as complex product oversight, cyber resiliency, and AML, rather than creating a specific 'crypto' label.
Global Divergence in Crypto Regulation
While the U.S. SEC opts for a technology-neutral approach, other global regulators are moving in the opposite direction, establishing sector-specific rulebooks for crypto assets:
- European Union (EU): The Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework is fully in effect, with stablecoin rules live since June 30, 2024, and the broader regime for crypto-asset service providers applying since December 30, 2024. Non-compliant stablecoins faced delistings by March 31, 2025, with projections for a large euro-area stablecoin market.
- United Kingdom (UK): The UK has published a draft statutory instrument to create new regulated activities for crypto assets, opening consultations on trading platforms, intermediation, staking, and decentralized finance (DeFi), while also considering tighter consumer risk controls.
- Hong Kong: Continues to refine its licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms and announced a 12-initiative “A-S-P-I-Re” roadmap in 2025, including steps to boost liquidity by allowing licensed platforms to share global order books with affiliates.
- Singapore: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) finalized a stablecoin framework in 2023, which took effect in 2024, specifically for single-currency stablecoins pegged to the SGD or G10 currencies.
This global divergence highlights the differing philosophies on how best to integrate and regulate digital assets within traditional financial systems.
Plausible Paths for 2026-2027
The SEC’s current stance sets up three plausible trajectories for the crypto landscape in 2026 to 2027:
- Benign Neglect: The baseline outcome, where the SEC keeps crypto out of exam priorities, addressing exposure through existing custody, AML, cyber, and marketing rules. Enforcement activity would likely drift toward single-digit case counts centered on fraud, consistent with recent trends.
- Realignment: This would require congressional action on market structure, potentially pushing most spot tokens toward the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and reserving the SEC for tokenized securities and fund shares. The exam program could then reintroduce a narrow crypto scope limited to securities products.
- Snap-Back: A high-impact failure, such as a stablecoin breakdown, a major exchange incident, or a product-level shock in an ETF complex, could trigger hearings and a re-insertion of crypto into 2027 or 2028 priorities, potentially with new specialist resources.
Implications Across the Crypto Ecosystem
For various players in the crypto space, the SEC’s changed approach has specific implications:
- Centralized Exchanges and Broker-Dealer Hybrids: Near-term exam exposure is tilted toward AML, custody, and complex product suitability, along with CFTC oversight for derivatives.
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi): The SEC’s omission reinforces that on-chain supervision is not on its near-term exam agenda, making EU, UK, and Hong Kong processes potential first sources of binding standards.
- Stablecoin Issuers: MiCA and MAS frameworks are rapidly becoming reference points for design and compliance, even for U.S. market participants operating globally.
- ETF Sponsors and Asset Managers: The exam program’s attention to complex wrappers, disclosure, best interest obligations, and operational resilience remains in place, regardless of the underlying index.
Stepping Out of the Spotlight
Ultimately, the SEC’s silence on crypto in its 2026 priorities may speak louder than its past crusades. This shift emphasizes a pivot from what many perceived as reflexive hostility to a more deliberate restraint. After years when the agency’s silence often preceded a subpoena or enforcement action, this new posture suggests something simpler: crypto is no longer the SEC’s special project. Whether this proves to be an overdue normalization of digital assets within existing regulatory frameworks or merely a temporary pause, the center of gravity in U.S. oversight is undoubtedly moving. This time, it's not because of what the SEC withholds from the public, but because it’s finally stepping out of the crypto-specific spotlight.
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