SEC launches Project Crypto to bring America’s markets on-chain

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced the launch of “Project Crypto,” with SEC Chair Paul Atkins saying the initiative will help achieve President Donald Trump’s vision of making America the crypto capital of the world.

SEC announced the “Project Crypto” on Thursday, July 31 via chair Paul Atkins, who revealed the grand plan in a speech delivered at the America First Policy Institute event in Washington D.C.

According to Atkins, the future of financial markets is moving so quickly that the United States must “do more than just keep pace with the crypto assets revolution.” The U.S. has to take the initiative and drive this revolution.

“We are at the threshold of a new era in the history of our markets. As I mentioned earlier, today I am announcing the launch of “Project Crypto”—a Commission-wide initiative to modernize the securities rules and regulations to enable America’s financial markets to move on-chain,” Atkins said.

Making U.S. global crypto market leader

SEC’s latest crypto related initiative comes a day after the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets released its highly anticipated report. 

Among its areas of focus are recommendations to federal agencies, including the SEC, to establish a crypto framework aimed at ensuring the U.S. maintains its dominance in global digital asset markets.

Project Crypto builds on this broader effort, with the SEC seeking to implement the PWG recommendations swiftly. The plan includes creating clear and simple rules for crypto distributions, custody, and trading in the U.S.

“While the Commission staff works to finalize these regulations, the Commission and its staff will in the coming months consider using interpretative, exemptive, and other authorities to make sure that archaic rules and regulations do not smother innovation and entrepreneurship in America,” Atkins added.

SEC sees Project Crypto as part of the efforts to not just bring financial markets on-chain, but also return all the crypto businesses pushed offshore during Gary Gensler’s tenure as SEC chair.

In recent months, under the Trump administration, the SEC has withdrawn lawsuits and ended several investigations that were pursued under Gensler’s heavily criticized regulation-by-enforcement approach. The agency has since issued statements clarifying its positions and signaling a complete shift away from its prior anti-crypto stance.