The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new regulatory framework for crypto assets on Tuesday, letting token issuers raise up to $75 million a year without registering the offering. The plan also includes a safe harbor that would pull some tokens out of the definition of a security.
The $75 million exemption
Under the proposal, token issuers could raise as much as $75 million per year without registering the offering with the SEC. That's a hard ceiling, and it's the first time the agency has put a specific number on how much a project can raise before triggering registration requirements. For early-stage projects, that's a meaningful runway — enough to cover a few rounds of seed funding without the legal overhead of a full registration.
The exemption applies to the offering itself, not the token's status. A token can be sold under this exemption and still be considered a security, which means the issuer would still face other obligations.
A safe harbor for some tokens
The second piece is a safe harbor that would remove certain tokens from the definition of a security. This is a separate track from the offering exemption. A token that qualifies for the safe harbor wouldn't be treated as a security at all, which changes how it can be traded, listed, and sold.
The SEC didn't spell out which tokens would qualify, but the safe harbor appears aimed at tokens that have reached a point of decentralization — where no single party controls the network. The details are thin, and the agency hasn't said what criteria it would use to make that call.
Why the proposal matters
If adopted, this would be the SEC's most concrete attempt to fit crypto into the securities law framework. The $75 million exemption gives issuers a clear path to raise capital without the full registration burden. The safe harbor offers a way for tokens to graduate out of security status over time. Together, they address two of the biggest complaints from the crypto industry: that there's no clear way to raise money legally, and no clear way for a token to stop being a security once it's decentralized.
The proposal is not final. The SEC will need to take public comments and potentially revise the rule before it goes into effect. There's no timeline for that process yet. But the fact that the SEC put a framework on the table is a shift from its recent reliance on enforcement actions to set policy.
