US Crypto Regulation in 2026: SEC, CFTC and Congress

US crypto regulation in 2026 is split between the SEC, the CFTC, the federal banking agencies and the states, and Congress has passed only one crypto law so far: the GENIUS Act for payment stablecoins. The market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, failed a Senate procedural vote on 15 September 2026. Since then the agencies have kept writing rules on their own authority, so most of the changes in late 2026 come from the SEC and CFTC rather than from Congress.

For the global picture, see our crypto regulation by country hub.

Who regulates crypto in the US

No single US regulator owns crypto. Which agency is in charge depends on what the asset is and what the business does with it.

• SEC: tokens sold as investment contracts, tokenized securities, crypto ETFs, broker-dealers and investment advisers that hold crypto.
• CFTC: crypto futures, options and perpetuals, plus fraud and manipulation in spot markets for commodities such as bitcoin.
• OCC, Federal Reserve and FDIC: banks that custody crypto or issue stablecoins, and now federal stablecoin licensing under the GENIUS Act.
• FinCEN: anti-money-laundering rules. Exchanges and other businesses that transmit crypto for customers are money services businesses under the Bank Secrecy Act.
• IRS: tax. Crypto is property for federal tax purposes.
• States: money transmitter licenses, New York's BitLicense and California's new digital asset license.

The SEC under Paul Atkins

The SEC's approach changed sharply in 2025. Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda set up a Crypto Task Force on 21 January 2025, led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. Paul Atkins was sworn in as SEC chairman on 21 April 2025. During 2025 the agency dropped most of its Biden-era crypto lawsuits, including the case against Coinbase filed in June 2023 and the case against Binance, which it dismissed with prejudice in May 2025.

Atkins announced "Project Crypto" on 12 November 2025, with a token taxonomy built on the Howey test. The main pieces so far:

• Interpretive release, 17 March 2026. Release 33-11412 sorts crypto assets into five groups: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. Only the last group is treated as securities by default. It also says covered protocol staking, including liquid staking where the provider has no discretion over staking and does not guarantee rewards, does not involve a securities offering. A staking receipt token backed one for one by a non-security asset is not a security either. The release is guidance and creates no new legal obligations, so a court or a future SEC can depart from it.
• Regulation Crypto Assets, proposed 18 August 2026. Release 33-11434 would create offering exemptions for token projects, including a $5 million startup exemption over four years and a larger exemption of up to $75 million in 12 months with financial reporting. It also proposes a safe harbor that ends investment-contract status once the issuer certifies it has finished its promised work. Comments closed on 20 October 2026. It is still a proposal; the full text is on sec.gov.
• Innovation exemption, 17 September 2026. Release 34-106402 gives five years of conditional relief to venues trading tokenized US-listed stocks through permissioned automated market makers, and to their liquidity providers. It does not cover permissionless DEX protocols or the websites people use to reach them.
• Custody proposal, 1 October 2026. A proposal on how SEC-registered advisers and funds hold crypto for clients.

On the ETF side, the SEC approved generic listing standards for commodity-based trust shares on 17 September 2025. Exchanges can now list qualifying spot crypto ETFs without a separate rule filing for each one. Our staking ETF guide covers the funds that stake their holdings, and is crypto staking legal goes deeper on the staking statements.

The CFTC and spot crypto trading

The Senate confirmed Michael Selig as CFTC chairman in December 2025. Before that, under Acting Chair Caroline Pham, Bitnomial became the first CFTC-registered exchange to list spot crypto, with rules effective 1 December 2025. These listed spot contracts are treated as retail commodity transactions on a designated contract market.

The CFTC's limit is its statute. For ordinary, fully paid spot trades, the Commodity Exchange Act gives it anti-fraud and anti-manipulation powers but no basis to register spot brokers or exchanges. That gap was one reason for the CLARITY Act. With the bill stalled, Selig directed staff on 20 August 2026 to build a crypto market structure from existing authority. On 17 September 2026 the agency sent a proposal titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the White House regulatory office for review. The text was not public when Troutman Pepper Locke reviewed it, and the firm does not expect binding effect before late 2027.

One CFTC move matters for self-custody wallets. Staff Letter 26-25, also dated 17 September 2026, gives conditional no-action relief to "passive software providers" that let users send their own orders to registered firms, as long as the software does not hold assets, generate trade signals or decide where orders go. It binds only the staff division that issued it.

Congress: GENIUS passed, CLARITY stalled

The GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025 as Public Law 119-27. It creates a licensing regime for payment stablecoin issuers, requires one dollar of permitted reserves per token, bars issuers from paying interest to holders, and puts issuers under the Bank Secrecy Act. Issuers with under $10 billion outstanding can opt into a state regime that is "substantially similar" to the federal one. The OCC issued the first final implementing rule on 21 October 2026, and the OCC says the rule and the Act take effect on 18 January 2027. Anti-money-laundering and sanctions rules for issuers are coming separately from Treasury. Our GENIUS Act explainer and stablecoin regulation guide cover the details.

The CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) passed the House 294 to 134 on 17 July 2025. It would have split jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC using "digital commodity" and "investment contract asset" categories and given the CFTC registration powers over spot exchanges, brokers and dealers. On 15 September 2026 the Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed by 49 to 50, 11 votes short of 60. Senator Thom Tillis changed his vote to enter a motion to reconsider, which keeps the bill technically alive, but no new vote had been scheduled by late October 2026. The fight over whether exchanges can pay rewards on stablecoins was one of the sticking points; we cover it in CLARITY Act and stablecoin yield, and the bill itself in CLARITY Act explained.

On 6 March 2025 an executive order created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded with bitcoin the government has forfeited in criminal or civil cases. The order says bitcoin in the reserve will not be sold and allows only budget-neutral ways to add more.

Banks and debanking

Executive Order 14331, "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans," was signed on 7 August 2025. It targeted account closures based on politics or "reputational risk," a practice the crypto industry called Operation Choke Point 2.0. The OCC and FDIC then issued a final rule on 7 April 2026 removing reputation risk from their supervision, effective 9 June 2026. The agencies may no longer push a bank to drop a lawful customer because the relationship looks bad. The Federal Reserve proposed a similar rule in February 2026. Our debanking guide covers the history and what to do if your account is closed.

State rules: BitLicense, California and money transmitters

Federal changes do not replace state licensing. New York's BitLicense (23 NYCRR Part 200) has applied since 2015 to anyone doing virtual currency business involving New York or its residents. California's Digital Financial Assets Law requires a license from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation from 1 July 2026. Under DFPI's rules, firms that filed a complete application by that date can keep operating while it is reviewed, and firms that did not must stop serving California residents. Most other states regulate exchanges through money transmitter licenses, which we explain in money transmitter licenses for crypto.

Licensed exchanges, as money services businesses, have to verify customers and screen them against sanctions lists, which is why US platforms ask for ID before you can deposit dollars. They usually run these checks through identity verification providers such as iDenfy.

Tax reporting

Brokers now report crypto sales to the IRS on Form 1099-DA. For 2025 sales they report gross proceeds; from 2026 they also report cost basis for assets acquired on or after 1 January 2026 and held at the same broker. See Form 1099-DA explained.

The broker rules stop at custodial platforms. In December 2024 the IRS issued a rule that would have treated some DeFi front ends as brokers. Congress repealed it under the Congressional Review Act, and the repeal was signed on 10 April 2025. Your own tax obligation on DeFi swaps, rewards and staking did not change; only third-party reporting did. Our DeFi taxes guide covers how common transactions are treated.

US crypto rules at a glance (October 2026)

Rule or body	What it covers	Status as of October 2026
GENIUS Act (P.L. 119-27)	Payment stablecoin issuers	Law since 18 July 2025; OCC final rule 21 Oct 2026; takes effect 18 Jan 2027
CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633)	SEC/CFTC split, spot market registration	Passed House July 2025; Senate cloture failed 49-50 on 15 Sep 2026
SEC interpretive release 33-11412	Token taxonomy, staking, airdrops, wrapped tokens	Issued 17 Mar 2026; guidance, not binding law
SEC Regulation Crypto Assets	Token offering exemptions, safe harbor	Proposed 18 Aug 2026; comments closed 20 Oct 2026
SEC innovation exemption	Tokenized US stocks on permissioned AMMs	Granted 17 Sep 2026 for five years
CFTC crypto market rules	Spot crypto markets under existing powers	Sent for White House review 17 Sep 2026; text not public
Form 1099-DA	Broker reporting of crypto sales	Gross proceeds for 2025; cost basis from 2026
IRS DeFi broker rule	Reporting by DeFi front ends	Repealed 10 April 2025
California DFAL	State license for crypto businesses	License required from 1 July 2026
New York BitLicense	State license for crypto businesses	In force since 2015

What this means for DeFi users

Most US rules attach to intermediaries: exchanges, brokers, custodians and issuers. A non-custodial protocol has no account to open, so using one from a self-custody wallet involves no sign-up and no platform holding your coins. Nobody can freeze a balance the protocol never held, the contracts run around the clock, and the rules are code anyone can read on-chain. For people who have been debanked, or who want to keep custody of their own assets, that makes DeFi a lawful alternative to keeping everything on an exchange.

It does not take you outside US law, and several limits stay in place:

• Taxes apply. No 1099-DA for a DeFi swap does not mean no tax. You still report gains and income yourself.
• Sanctions apply. US persons cannot deal with sanctioned people or addresses, whatever app they use. See our OFAC sanctions guide.
• Dollars still go through banks. Getting dollars in and out means a regulated exchange or payment firm with ID checks. Our KYC in DeFi post explains where those checks sit.
• Front ends can block you. Some DeFi websites geoblock US users even when the contracts are open to anyone.
• No safety net. There is no FDIC or SIPC coverage, no ombudsman and no chargeback. Smart contract bugs, stablecoin depegs and liquidations are your risk.
• Rules are still moving. The SEC's taxonomy is guidance, the CFTC's rules are unpublished and CLARITY may come back. The DeFi regulation guide covers how regulators treat protocols themselves.

JewelSwap is a non-custodial DeFi protocol on MultiversX, Sui and Radix. You connect a self-custody wallet and there is no account sign-up. It offers liquid staking tokens (JWLSUI and SJWLSUI, JWLEGLD and SJWLEGLD, JWLXRD and SJWLXRD), auto-compounded yield farms (Scallop leveraged farms on Sui; AshSwap, xExchange, OneDex and Hatom farms on MultiversX) and NFT lending on MultiversX. It holds no US license, and US users carry the same tax, sanctions and smart contract responsibilities described above. If you are new to holding your own keys, start with our self-custody guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is crypto legal in the US?

Yes. Buying, holding and selling crypto is legal at the federal level. Businesses that handle crypto for customers need the right federal registrations and state licenses, and individuals owe tax on gains and income.

Did the CLARITY Act pass?

No. It passed the House in July 2025, but on 15 September 2026 the Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed by 49 to 50. A motion to reconsider keeps it technically alive, and no new vote had been set by late October 2026.

Who regulates crypto in the US, the SEC or the CFTC?

Both, depending on the asset and activity. The SEC covers tokens sold as investment contracts and tokenized securities. The CFTC covers crypto derivatives and fraud in spot commodity markets. Banking agencies, FinCEN, the IRS and the states each cover their own part.

When does the GENIUS Act take effect?

The OCC says the GENIUS Act and its final rule take effect on 18 January 2027. The OCC will announce separately when it starts accepting issuer applications.

Do I have to report DeFi transactions to the IRS?

Yes. The DeFi broker reporting rule was repealed in April 2025, which means DeFi front ends do not send you a 1099-DA. You still report taxable DeFi transactions on your own return.

Educational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. US rules checked on 29 October 2026 and change often.