SEC Cryptocurrency 2026: How the Atkins A-C-T Strategy Is Reshaping the Digital Asset Compliance Framework

On April 21, 2025, Paul Atkins was sworn in as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As of April 22, 2026, Atkins has served as SEC Chair for one year. During this year, the SEC’s regulatory stance in the digital asset space has undergone a fundamental shift—from the enforcement-centric, tough approach of former Chair Gary Gensler’s era to a policy-driven model focused on rulemaking and institutional coordination. In his one-year anniversary speech at the Washington Economic Club, Atkins officially announced a four-point plan centered on the A-C-T (Advance, Clarify, Transform) strategy, signaling the end of the old path of “regulation through enforcement.”

How does the A-C-T strategy end the SEC’s “enforcement over regulation” model?

Atkins condenses his regulatory philosophy into the A-C-T framework. Advance refers to modernizing regulation by aligning SEC rules with the real needs of the digital asset market; Clarify focuses on defining the boundaries of digital asset regulation, ending the long-standing dilemma where market participants could not determine compliance pathways; Transform aims to reshape the rule system based on fundamental principles, making the SEC’s toolbox truly adaptable to innovation. This framework sharply contrasts with the previous Biden administration’s enforcement-first approach of “prosecute, silence, stagnate.” In his speech, Atkins openly states that the SEC is returning to its core missions of “protecting investors, maintaining market order, and promoting capital formation,” criticizing past regulatory overreach that increased market friction and uncertainty.

What substantive changes have occurred in enforcement data?

Changes in enforcement data are the most direct quantitative evidence of the policy shift. According to a report published in April 2026 by the Brattle research firm, the SEC initiated only 92 enforcement actions in the first half of fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 to March 2026), representing a roughly 59% decrease from the average of 225 cases in the first halves of fiscal years 2018–2025. Enforcement actions against non-individual entities fell to the lowest level since 2018, accounting for only 22% of all cases, while enforcement actions against individual respondents hit a record high, exceeding half of all cases. Meanwhile, the SEC’s own Enforcement Report for FY2025 shows that the agency launched 456 enforcement actions in that year, a roughly 30% decrease from FY2024, and characterized many previous crypto registration cases as “misinterpretations of federal securities law,” acknowledging that these cases “did not provide substantial benefits to investors.”

How does the five-category token classification framework distinguish securities from non-securities?

In November 2025, Atkins first proposed a token classification plan and released a comprehensive five-category digital asset framework during his one-year speech. The framework explicitly defines four categories of assets as “non-securities”: digital commodities (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum), which include assets based on decentralized networks; digital collectibles (mainly art and music NFTs); digital tools (including functional identity verification tokens); and payment-stablecoins that meet specific legal criteria. Only “digital securities”—tokens representing traditional securities like stocks and bonds mapped on-chain—remain fully subject to SEC securities law. This classification provides the clearest compliance guidance for the crypto industry since the inception of the Howey test.

How will the “Innovation Exemption” mechanism change the compliance pathway for tokenized securities?

As a key institutional design in the four-point plan, Atkins announced that the SEC will soon introduce an “Innovation Exemption” mechanism. This will provide market participants with a transition window of 12 to 36 months, allowing on-chain trading of tokenized securities within a compliant framework without requiring immediate full registration. This arrangement is positioned as a “bridge” before long-term rulemaking, aiming to lower the compliance entry barrier for innovative projects. Meanwhile, the SEC has launched “Project Crypto” to promote on-chain market development and is committed to establishing long-term industry rules. Atkins points out that past regulatory approaches in the U.S. caused significant innovation to flow overseas, and the innovation exemption is a key measure to “bring innovation activities back to the U.S.”

Has the institutional coordination between SEC and CFTC ended the regulatory vacuum?

A long-standing core issue in crypto regulation is the blurred jurisdictional boundary between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In February 2026, the two agencies signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), unifying key definitions, clarifying jurisdictional boundaries, and coordinating regulation in shared areas like digital assets. On March 17, 2026, the SEC and CFTC jointly issued a 68-page interpretive guidance titled “Application of Federal Securities Laws to Certain Crypto Assets and Transactions,” further clarifying that most crypto assets do not fall under securities laws. Atkins states that both agencies are transforming the previous “regulatory no-man’s land” into a fertile ground rooted in innovation. However, it’s worth noting that the SEC is still awaiting Congressional passage of the Market Structure Act to formally define its regulatory authority over crypto assets—until then, the SEC’s crypto regulation framework remains in a transitional state of “administrative guidance and case-by-case handling.”

How has the approval logic for ETFs changed?

Within one year of Atkins’s tenure, progress on SEC approval of crypto ETFs has become another significant indicator of policy shift. Under Gensler, the SEC only approved Bitcoin spot ETFs and Ethereum spot ETFs, with lengthy legal battles involved. After Atkins took office, ETF approvals accelerated and expanded. In September 2025, the SEC announced applying general listing standards to crypto ETFs, and subsequently Hashdex was approved to launch a crypto index ETF including BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL. In October of the same year, the SEC approved Litecoin and Hedera ETFs. By March 2026, the SEC completed a “collective approval,” officially approving core rule changes for 24 tokens including XRP, Solana, and Litecoin. The shift in approval logic is reflected in two dimensions: first, an expansion of scope from single tokens to multi-token and multi-asset class ETFs; second, increased efficiency from case-by-case battles to framework-based approval.

What controversies and disagreements remain in the regulatory shift?

Although the crypto industry generally welcomes Atkins’s regulatory shift, criticism from Congress is intensifying. Democratic lawmakers question whether some investigations and enforcement actions withdrawn by the SEC involved companies linked to Trump and his family, raising potential conflicts of interest. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accused Atkins of misleading Congress during testimony and pointed out that the number of enforcement actions in FY2025 fell to the lowest in the past decade. Meanwhile, while pushing for a federal regulatory framework, state regulators continue active enforcement, creating a complex compliance landscape. Recent lawsuits by New York’s Attorney General against multiple crypto platforms highlight the ongoing “regulatory tug-of-war” between federal and state authorities. The direction of the regulatory shift is set, but full implementation faces multiple hurdles.

How will the compliance pathways for crypto projects evolve?

Based on Atkins’s one-year regulatory framework announcement, compliance pathways for crypto projects in the U.S. are becoming clearer. First, project teams can preliminarily assess their assets’ legal nature based on the five-category token framework. If classified as “non-securities,” they are exempt from full SEC securities registration, but issues around investment contract classification during issuance and sale still need attention—assets not classified as securities may still fall under securities law if their issuance or sale constitutes an investment contract. Second, the SEC is promoting a set of registration exemptions including “New Venture Exemption” and “Fundraising Exemption,” providing compliant fundraising options at different development stages. Third, the SEC has proposed an “Investment Contract Safe Harbor,” whereby once issuers fulfill their core management commitments, related crypto assets may be freed from securities law constraints. The gradual implementation of this framework means crypto projects no longer need to choose between “regulatory vacuum” and “overseas migration.”

Summary

One year into Atkins’s leadership of the SEC, a historic shift in U.S. digital asset regulation from “enforcement-first” to “rule-driven” has been witnessed. The A-C-T strategy established three main directions: advancing regulatory modernization, clarifying regulatory boundaries, and reshaping the rule system; the five-category token framework offers the clearest compliance guidance for 2026; enforcement actions have decreased by about 59% year-over-year, ETF approval scope and efficiency have both increased, and the SEC-CFTC institutional coordination has made substantial progress. However, legislative delays in Congress, ongoing pressure from Democratic lawmakers, and jurisdictional disputes between federal and state authorities still introduce uncertainties to the full realization of this regulatory shift. For the crypto industry, the direction set by Atkins’s one-year plan is clear—true test lies in the full implementation and ongoing refinement of the institutional framework.

FAQ

Q: What are the five categories in Atkins’s token classification framework?

The framework divides digital assets into five categories: digital commodities (like Bitcoin and Ethereum), digital collectibles (such as art NFTs), digital tools (like identity verification tokens), payment-stablecoins, and digital securities (tokens representing traditional securities on-chain). The first four are explicitly defined as “non-securities,” outside SEC’s full securities law jurisdiction, while only digital securities remain fully subject to securities registration requirements.

Q: How much did enforcement actions decrease during Atkins’s tenure?

According to Brattle research, in the first half of FY2026, the SEC launched only 92 enforcement actions, about 59% fewer than the average of 225 in the first halves of FY2018–2025. The SEC’s FY2025 report shows a total of 456 enforcement actions, roughly 30% fewer than FY2024. The SEC has acknowledged that past crypto enforcement created “misleading expectations” and has committed to redirect resources toward combating fraud and other investor harms.

Q: When will the “Innovation Exemption” mechanism take effect, and what scenarios does it cover?

Atkins announced the upcoming “Innovation Exemption” during his April 21, 2026, one-year speech, but the formal rule has not yet been published. It aims to provide a 12- to 36-month transitional period for compliant on-chain trading of tokenized securities, allowing market participants to experiment within a compliant framework before long-term rules are finalized, without requiring full registration immediately. Exact implementation details depend on the SEC’s official rule publication.

Q: What issues does the MOU between SEC and CFTC address?

In February 2026, the SEC and CFTC signed an MOU to unify key definitions, clarify jurisdictional boundaries, and coordinate regulation in shared areas like digital assets. This aims to eliminate the long-standing “regulatory vacuum” and reduce overlapping or conflicting requirements. In March 2026, they jointly issued an interpretive guidance clarifying that most crypto assets do not qualify as securities.

Q: How can crypto projects determine if their tokens are securities?

Based on the SEC’s classification framework, projects can preliminarily assess whether their tokens are securities by considering: whether the token operates on a decentralized network (digital commodity), has collectible attributes (digital collectibles), has functional utility (digital tools), is a compliant payment-stablecoin, or is a tokenized traditional security. However, even if assets are not securities, issuance and sale methods that constitute an investment contract may still bring them under securities law. It’s recommended that projects consult compliance experts and review SEC guidance before issuance.