The US Securities and Exchange Commission has taken a formal step toward codifying its newly announced crypto framework, filing a pre-rulemaking notice that signals a proposal could arrive as early as April.
The notice, titled "Crypto Assets," was published in the federal government's Unified Agenda on 23 Mar and indicates the agency is preparing rules governing the offer and sale of digital assets, including "exemptions and safe harbors" to clarify how the market is regulated.
The filing, now under White House review, follows an interpretive guidance issued by the SEC last week introducing a new classification approach for digital assets under categories such as digital commodities, collectibles, tools and tokenized securities, with only the latter falling squarely under securities laws.
Safe harbour framework in the works
The filing reflects elements of the SEC's guidance issued last week, particularly around the use of safe harbours to define when crypto assets fall outside securities laws.
During a speech at the DC Blockchain Summit on 17 Mar, Chair Paul Atkins announced a framework under which tokens could transition out of securities treatment once issuer-led development efforts are no longer central to the network.
"This safe harbor could apply once the issuer has completed or otherwise permanently ceased all essential managerial efforts that the issuer represented or promised that it would engage in under the investment contract," Atkins said at the time.
The approach builds on earlier proposals by Commissioner Hester Peirce, which envisioned a time-limited exemption allowing projects to raise capital and develop decentralized networks before being subject to full securities regulation.
Congress negotiates stablecoin language
The SEC's move comes as lawmakers continue to negotiate broader legislation that could further define the regulatory perimeter for digital assets in the US.
Senators and White House officials reportedly reached an "agreement in principle" last week on key provisions of the CLARITY Act, a long-delayed market structure bill aimed at establishing clearer jurisdictional boundaries between financial regulators and addressing the treatment of stablecoin rewards.
The emerging compromise centres on language that avoids bank-style terminology such as yield or APR, while limiting rewards to transaction-based activity rather than passive balances, both points of contention between crypto companies and traditional banks.
A Senate Banking Committee markup for the legislation is slated for the second half of April.
