In 2026, US crypto regulation may adopt a dual-track framework

On December 27, it was reported that in the second year of the Trump administration, the landscape of US crypto regulation began to shift. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) moved from a jurisdictional struggle to close cooperation, jointly advancing crypto regulation. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins promoted a token classification system, Project Crypto, and an innovative exemption mechanism, and approved listing standards for multiple types of crypto ETFs, making asset tokenization a regulatory focus. The CFTC accelerated rule clarification through Crypto Sprint, and the new chairman, Michael Selig, is expected to play a key role in the regulation of crypto commodities such as bitcoin. Industry insiders believe that by 2026, US crypto regulation will present a dual-track pattern of SEC institutional innovation and CFTC-led market expansion.