IOSG Weekly Report｜Policy Turning Point and Market Transformation: Analysis of the U.S. Cryptocurrency Regulatory Framework

Chainfeeds Guide:

Over the past three years, the United States' stance on cryptocurrency has undergone a significant transformation—from an early focus on enforcement-driven, relatively unfriendly regulation, to a more constructive, rule-making-first regulatory model.

Source:

Author:

IOSG Ventures

Opinion:

IOSG Ventures: The "CLARITY Act" is a major milestone in the U.S. digital asset regulatory landscape. It establishes the core criteria for whether a blockchain system is certified as a mature system by the SEC, thereby clearly distinguishing whether digital assets should be classified as digital commodities under CFTC regulation or as securities under SEC regulation. The seven maturity standards cover market cap-driven, fully functional, open interoperability, programmatic systems, decentralized governance, fairness, and distributed ownership. Once a system is certified, its native tokens can be traded as digital commodities under CFTC supervision, while other on-chain assets retain their existing attributes. For staking services, the CLARITY Act provides a clear safe harbor: pure on-chain validator/sequencer operations and reward distributions do not require SEC registration, as exemplified by the ministerial models of Lido and Rocket Pool. However, new types of staking derivative financing or custodial centralized dividend models still fall under securities issuance regulation. For liquid staking tokens (LST), 1:1 certificates are exempt, but asset management certificates involving restaking strategies or yield redistribution are subject to SEC regulation. Regarding decentralized exchanges (DEX), spot trading of native tokens is exempt from registration, but securities tokens, derivatives, or RWA are still subject to SEC or CFTC oversight. Meanwhile, although the CLARITY Act recognizes that DeFi protocols distributing fees to LPs is an end-user allocation, if governance token holders can profit solely by holding, it still triggers the Howey Test and must be regulated as securities. In July 2025, the U.S. officially enacted the "GENIUS Act," the first comprehensive federal law regulating stablecoins. The act stipulates that only licensed and regulated entities may issue payment stablecoins, and issuers must hold 100% reserves, limited to U.S. dollars/Federal Reserve deposits, short-term U.S. Treasury bills within 93 days, or overnight repo agreements backed by government bonds. Reserve assets may not be pledged, rehypothecated, or reused, ensuring full redemption security for stablecoins. The GENIUS Act strictly limits issuer activities to four categories: issuing and redeeming payment stablecoins, managing reserve assets, providing custodial services, and related support businesses, fundamentally isolating high-risk activities. As a result, banks may naturally become stablecoin issuers due to regulatory advantages, either through subsidiaries or compliant tech partnerships, initially serving enterprises and whitelisted counterparties. The retail sector uses stablecoins to reduce card fees and shorten settlement cycles, with card organizations like Visa and Mastercard already introducing stablecoin settlement channels to enable weekend and near real-time clearing. Fintech companies are also building compliant stablecoin accounts and cross-border payment products, focusing on simplifying on-chain complexity and meeting audit and tax requirements. The introduction of the GENIUS Act marks the beginning of large-scale application for stablecoin compliance and provides legislative reference for other jurisdictions (such as Hong Kong), accelerating the global rollout of stablecoin regulatory frameworks. In addition to the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts, recent U.S. crypto policy developments include new retirement investment policies and the "Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act." The executive order signed in August 2025 allows 401(k) retirement plans to allocate to digital assets and other alternative assets, with the Department of Labor required to update ERISA guidelines within six months, likely introducing a safe harbor list. In the short term, compliance paths will be limited to spot BTC/ETH ETFs and some specialized funds, while DeFi yields and highly volatile tokens are unlikely to be included. Another important development is the House-passed "Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act," which proposes to open private fundraising channels to more retail investors through an SEC knowledge exam, lowering the wealth threshold. Meanwhile, Senator Lummis' proposed "BITCOIN Act" calls for the establishment of a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve, with the Treasury purchasing 1 million BTC over five years and locking it for 20 years, funded by Federal Reserve remittances and gold revaluation. If passed, the U.S. would directly control nearly 5% of the global BTC supply, with significant legitimacy and price support effects, potentially prompting other countries to follow suit. However, the act involves Federal Reserve independence and fiscal deficit risks, making it difficult to advance and currently remains at the Banking Committee stage, far behind the CLARITY and GENIUS Acts. Overall, the U.S. regulatory path is becoming clearer: defining digital commodities through CLARITY, regulating stablecoins through GENIUS, and supplementing with retirement investment and strategic reserve policies, the crypto market is gradually entering a new stage of institutionalization and compliance.