U.S. regulators removed crypto from their 2026 examination priorities, marking a stark policy shift from the previous administration.
Summary
- The SEC is shifting away from treating crypto as a standalone risk, a departure from its 2024 and 2025 focus on crypto assets.
- The SEC’s new priorities emphasize emerging technologies like AI, lumping crypto risks into broader topics like cybersecurity and anti-money laundering.
- The White House’s pro-crypto stance, coinciding with the Trump family’s business ventures, reflect a shift toward a lighter regulatory approach.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will not treat cryptocurrency as a standalone risk in its fiscal 2026 priorities, marking a departure from the agency’s approach in 2024 and 2025, according to the agency’s examination priorities document released this week.
The Division of Examinations’ 17-page “2026 Examination Priorities” outlines focus areas for investment advisers, funds, broker-dealers, and market utilities, with emphasis on information security, operational resiliency, identity theft, the amended Regulation S-P, and anti-money laundering, according to the document.
The section on emerging financial technology centers on automated advice, algorithms, and artificial intelligence, including whether tools produce compliant recommendations. The document contains no mention of crypto, crypto assets, digital assets, virtual currency, or blockchain across any section, including areas where the topic previously appeared, such as fintech and AML.
The omission represents a notable shift from recent years. The SEC’s 2024 priorities, under former President Joe Biden, included a section titled “Crypto Assets and Emerging Financial Technology,” stating examinations would prioritize firms active in crypto assets and related products.
The 2025 priorities again referenced crypto assets as critical risk areas.
The 2026 policy shift follows changes in White House directives to limit federal work on central bank digital currency, and to establish a President’s Working Group on digital asset markets.
A March fact sheet announced the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. digital asset stockpile, according to the White House.
A crypto-fied White House
Paul S. Atkins, sworn in as SEC chair in April, has been associated with a lighter regulatory approach and an emphasis on capital formation.
His stance coincides with one of President Trump’s pro-crypto priorities. Since before Inauguration Day, Trump and his family launched a wide range of crypto-related ventures. From a digital asset firm, World Liberty Financial, to Official Trump and Melania memecoins, these ventures have made the Trump family over $1 billion in profits.
Meanwhile, enforcement activity has declined from peak levels. Cornerstone Research counted 46 crypto-related enforcement actions in 2023, the most on record, and 33 in 2024, down approximately 30 percent year over year.
Across the agency, fiscal 2024 closed with 583 total enforcement actions, down from the prior year, while financial remedies reached a record $8.2 billion, heavily influenced by the Terraform Labs settlement, according to the SEC’s fiscal 2024 enforcement results.
Under the new chair, several legacy matters have been resolved:
- A case against Ripple ended with a $125 million penalty and an injunction limited to institutional sales.
- An investigation into Robinhood’s crypto business disappeared without charges.
- A lawsuit against Coinbase, which had alleged unregistered exchange activity and staking products, was dismissed.
The global crypto market capitalization surged in July, according to market data. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds attracted significant net inflows in 2024, with continued flows for most of 2025. The investor base for crypto-linked products now spans large asset managers, broker-dealers, and retirement channels that fall within the SEC’s examination perimeter.
Bitcoin has declined from its October peak, and Ethereum has weakened, according to market data. The broader crypto market experienced substantial losses over a short period.
International regulators are moving toward sector-specific frameworks. The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework is now 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, according to the European Securities and Markets Authority. Non-compliant stablecoins faced delistings by March 31, according to ESMA.
Crypto across the globe
The U.K. has published a draft statutory instrument to create new regulated activities for crypto assets and opened consultations on trading platforms, intermediation, staking, and decentralized finance.
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 allow licensed platforms to share global order books with affiliates to boost liquidity.
Singapore’s Monetary Authority finalized a stablecoin framework in 2023, which took effect in 2024, for single-currency stablecoins pegged to the Singapore dollar or G10 currencies, according to MAS.
