The new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) crypto rule may revive a fundraising avenue that shifted offshore during the ICO boom years. Grayscale said the framework could drive more token issuance and blockchain activity in the United States, while also giving market participants a clearer read on how the agency may treat token fundraising as it continues to refine crypto rules.

SEC Targets a Long-Standing Crypto Fundraising Gap

The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, or “Reg Crypto,” on August 18, following its March 2026 interpretation of how federal securities laws apply to crypto assets and transactions.

The proposal focuses on newly minted tokens used for fundraising, rather than tokenized shares of an existing stock or other securities. That distinction matters because token financing has existed for years, but regulatory uncertainty has made it difficult for many U.S. issuers to launch token fundraising offerings in their home market.

According to Grayscale, the 2017–18 ICO cycle showed how much investor demand existed for tokens. More recent offerings, including initial exchange offerings and decentralized exchange offerings, increasingly moved offshore from the United States as projects sought more favorable regulations.

Reg Crypto offers eligible issuers a clearer path into the market and reduces the advantage of structuring token offerings abroad, said Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl.

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Two Potential Fundraising Paths

The proposed framework includes exemptions that may allow projects meeting specific disclosure and eligibility requirements to raise capital. One option may permit smaller amounts of early-stage fundraising, while a broader exemption would allow all issuers that qualify to raise up to $75 million in a 12-month period.

These are proposed rules, not final permissions. Issuers would still need to meet SEC conditions, and the framework must go through the rulemaking process before it can take effect.

Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain Could See More Activity

Grayscale said that if these tokens are successfully funded, they could generate activity beyond the issuers themselves.

The company said more token launches would likely mean more users, transactions, liquidity and application usage on public blockchains. It identified Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain as networks that could be well positioned if U.S. token issuance accelerates.

That potential spillover matters because token fundraising is not just about capital formation for individual projects; it also touches the broader infrastructure these projects rely on for issuance, trading and application deployment. In practice, any increase in compliant token launches would likely be watched closely by developers, exchanges and blockchain networks that already support active onchain activity.

The proposal also revisits the question of what happens when a crypto protocol becomes sufficiently automated or decentralized. Based on the SEC’s March 2026 guidance, the framework may provide a path for some qualifying tokens to transition away from investment contract status once the issuer’s promised managerial work is complete.

Reg Crypto has not been finalized by the SEC, and the final requirements may change during the public rulemaking process. Even so, Grayscale described the proposal as a potentially significant step toward token-based capital formation in the U.S. cryptocurrency market.

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