Sec Speeches Cryptocurrency Statement on the 2026 Regulatory Agenda

The 2026 Regulatory Agenda reflects the robust rulemaking we are pursuing under my chairmanship. Now that we are just over one year into my tenure, we have made significant progress in returning the agency to its core mission of protecting investors; facilitating capital formation; and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets – a charge that will guide the Commission as we continue to enact this important agenda. 

This Commission recognizes the importance of advancing our regulatory framework to reflect the realities of today’s operating environment – embracing innovation and new technology. To deliver on President Trump’s goal to ensure that the United States is the crypto capital of the world, we are embracing innovation to bring more products onshore, creating clear rules of the road for capital raising with crypto assets, and providing clarity as to how market participants can custody and facilitate trading of tokenized securities onchain. All while ensuring strong investor protection guardrails are in place and continuing to pursue bad actors who violate the law. 

I have also consistently highlighted the importance of reversing the decline of public companies and revitalizing our public markets to Make IPOs Great Again. This agenda includes a number of proposals critical to realizing that mission by transforming our disclosure regime. Every IPO is an invitation to workers and savers to participate in the prosperity of the next generation of American enterprise. When fewer companies go public, fewer investors receive that invitation. Guided by materiality, the proposed reforms aim to reduce compliance burdens and further facilitate capital formation in our public markets, while maintaining critical investor protections. 

Lastly, as it relates to the private markets, this agenda reflects our key priority to ensure a regulatory framework that is transparent, accessible, and remains safeguarded. Exposure to the full dynamism of our markets – both public and private – should not be reserved for wealthy insiders. Our agenda includes a proposal to better facilitate retail investor participation in private markets while preserving their protection with appropriate safeguards.

Having just celebrated the 250th year of our Republic, we have a mandate to preserve the promise of our capital markets for the next quarter millennium, and we intend to fulfill it. Anchored to the mission that Congress set for the agency, we will ensure that the next chapter of financial leadership is written in the U.S., and that our capital markets continue to lead the world – in their depth, their dynamism, and their unrivaled ability to transform ingenuity into prosperity.