The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's official comment window for its Regulation Crypto Assets proposal closed on October 20, 2026, but the agency will continue accepting feedback anyway, according to a post on X.

Deadline Passed, Door Still Open

Per the post, the SEC will keep taking feedback on the proposal after the cutoff date. The distinction is notable: research into the rulemaking file indicates the SEC confirmed there was no formal extension to the comment period. Late-filed input is nonetheless a routine feature of federal rulemaking — agencies weigh the submissions they receive before adopting a rule, so feedback that lands after the deadline can still register in the process.

The proposal is docketed under File No. S7-2026-27, the SEC's standard file series for securities rulemakings. By the time the window closed on October 20, it had drawn approximately 140 submissions from industry groups, firms, and individual members of the public.

The commenter list includes the Hyperliquid Policy Center, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), and SkyBridge Capital's Anthony Scaramucci.

Commenters, including the Hyperliquid Policy Center and SIFMA, flagged areas they want revised. The two biggest pressure points are how the rule treats airdrops and how far the proposed safe harbor extends.

Airdrops are free token distributions, typically sent to a project's users or community. Under securities law, giving something away for free can still raise difficult questions about whether an investment contract exists — the term of art, shaped by the Supreme Court's 1946 Howey decision, that determines whether a transaction falls under securities regulation.

What Reg Crypto Would Actually Do

The SEC first announced the proposal on August 18, 2026. Its stated goal is to build a structured framework for certain investment contracts that involve crypto assets.

The proposal creates two main exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the statute that has governed public offerings in the United States since the New Deal. The first is a startup exemption that would allow crypto offerings to raise up to $5 million over four years without going through full registration. The second is a fundraising exemption for larger raises, permitting up to $75 million in a 12-month period, with issuers to file ongoing reports.

The proposal also includes a conditional safe harbor. It would preempt certain state securities rules — commonly known as "blue sky" laws — for qualifying offerings, meaning issuers would not have to clear a separate regulatory process in each state. Federal antifraud laws would still apply.

The framework is also designed to add legal clarity for secondary trading of crypto securities.

How the SEC Got Here

Reg Crypto builds on guidance from March 2026, when the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a joint interpretation of how securities law applies to crypto and related transactions.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has framed the proposal as a way to encourage capital formation and technological innovation while keeping investor protections intact.

The CLARITY Act, legislation aimed at crypto market structure, remains stalled, leaving the SEC to pursue through rulemaking what Congress has not yet accomplished through statute.

What It Means for Issuers and Investors

The $5 million startup lane and the $75 million fundraising lane would give projects a defined growth path, with the larger raise carrying more disclosure obligations.

The treatment of airdrops carries its own stakes. If the final rule handles them too strictly, a common way projects distribute tokens could become legally fraught. If it handles them too loosely, critics may argue the rule opens a backdoor around the offering limits.

In a standard SEC rulemaking, staff next review the comment record, after which the agency can revise the proposal or move toward a final rule — a process that can stretch over months. The clearest signal to watch is whether that record, including comments filed after the deadline, leads the SEC to adjust its approach to airdrops and the safe harbor.

Without legislation like the CLARITY Act behind it, Reg Crypto would rest on a regulatory foundation that a future SEC could revisit. Issuers planning multi-year raises under the startup exemption would be building on that same foundation.