SEC 2026 Agenda Targets Crypto, IPO Reform, Private Markets

SEC Chair Paul Atkins on July 7 released the agency’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda. It lists planned rules on crypto custody, frameworks for trading tokenized securities, proposed IPO disclosure reforms, and measures to widen retail investor access to private offerings.

The agenda presents those items as priorities for updating capital markets and sets out the agency’s work plan for the coming year. It aims to clarify rules for crypto assets, reduce barriers to public listings and create pathways for more investors to participate in private offerings.

Atkins, sworn in on April 21, 2025 as the SEC’s 34th chair, framed the agenda around investor protection, capital formation and fair, orderly markets. In the statement he wrote: “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.”

The document highlights near-term work on custody requirements for crypto, market-structure changes to support on-chain trading of tokenized securities, and rules for capital raising using digital assets. It links those items to the administration’s stated goal of making the United States a global center for crypto activity.

On public companies, the agenda outlines disclosure changes intended to lower compliance costs and encourage more firms to list. Atkins used the phrase “Make IPOs Great Again” when describing the effort to boost initial public offering activity.

For private markets, the agenda sets out proposals to expand retail access to private offerings while keeping safeguards in place. It notes forthcoming rule proposals to broaden participation and to define limits and protections for retail investors.

The statement says investor-protection guardrails will remain and that enforcement of securities laws will continue. The agenda itself lists priorities and does not contain final rules; the effects will depend on the text of future proposals, how the Commission writes them and how those proposals are implemented.

Atkins closed the release with a broader statement on U.S. markets, writing: “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.”