On July 31, Paul Atkins, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced a far-reaching new policy—'Project Crypto'. This chain reform plan led by the SEC has a clear goal: to completely rewrite the regulatory logic of the U.S. in the era of crypto assets, allowing the financial market to 'shift on-chain' and achieve the grand vision described by the Trump administration—making the U.S. the 'world's crypto capital'.
The previous model of 'enforcement instead of regulation' not only drove innovative companies out of the crypto space to Singapore and Dubai but also missed the opportunity for the U.S. to lead the next generation of financial infrastructure. The launch of 'Project Crypto' differs from the regulatory suppression tone of the past few years, undoubtedly sending a strong signal to the entire industry: the on-chain era in the U.S. starts now.
With regulatory easing, DeFi protocols like Uniswap and Aave welcome a golden opportunity.
The attitudes of previous SEC chairpersons towards crypto assets and their derivatives—especially DeFi (decentralized finance)—often determine the temperature and vitality of the U.S. market. During Gary Gensler's tenure, the SEC's regulatory strategy focused on 'prioritizing the definition of securities' and 'enforcement as the guideline', emphasizing the comprehensive inclusion of token trading within the traditional securities framework. During his tenure, more than 125 enforcement actions related to crypto were initiated, involving many DeFi projects, including subpoenas to Uniswap and lawsuits against Coinbase, almost pushing the compliance threshold for on-chain products to historic highs.
Since the appointment of new chairman Paul Atkins in April 2025, the SEC's regulatory style has undergone a fundamental shift. He quickly launched a roundtable discussion titled 'DeFi and the American Spirit' to ease regulations on DeFi.
In Project Crypto, Atkins made it clear that the original intention of the U.S. federal securities laws is to protect investors and market fairness, rather than stifle technology architectures that do not require intermediary participation. He believes that decentralized financial systems like automated market makers (AMM) can essentially achieve non-intermediated financial market activities and should be granted a legitimate status at the institutional level. Developers who 'just write code' should be provided with clear protections and exemptions, while intermediary institutions wishing to provide services based on these protocols should have clear and executable compliance pathways.
This policy shift undoubtedly releases positive signals for the entire DeFi ecosystem. Especially protocols like Lido, Uniswap, and Aave, which have already formed on-chain network effects and have highly autonomous designs, will gain institutional recognition and development space under the non-intermediated regulatory logic. Protocol tokens that have long suffered from the 'securities shadow' are also expected to reshape their valuation logic against the backdrop of policy easing and market participation return, becoming 'mainstream assets' in the eyes of investors again.
Building the next generation of financial entry: Super-App will reshape the competitive landscape of trading platforms.
In his speech, Paul Atkins proposed the concept of 'Super-App', which is highly practical and transformative. Atkins believes that current securities intermediaries face complex compliance structures and overlapping licensing barriers when providing traditional securities, crypto assets, and on-chain services, which directly hinders product innovation and user experience upgrades. He proposed that future trading platforms should be able to integrate non-securities crypto assets (such as $DOGE), securities crypto assets (such as tokenized stocks), traditional securities (such as U.S. stocks), as well as various services like staking and lending, all under one license. This is not only a compliance innovation that simplifies processes but also the core of future trading platform companies' competitiveness.
Regulators will promote the real implementation of this super application architecture. Atkins has clearly indicated that the SEC will draft a regulatory framework allowing crypto assets to coexist and trade on SEC-registered platforms, regardless of whether they constitute securities. Meanwhile, the SEC is also evaluating how to utilize existing authority to relax listing conditions for certain assets on non-registered exchanges (such as platforms holding only state licenses). Even derivatives platforms regulated by the CFTC may also be expected to incorporate some leverage functions to release greater trading liquidity. The entire direction of regulatory reform is to break the binary boundary of securities/non-securities, allowing platforms to flexibly allocate assets based on product essence and user needs, rather than being bound by compliance structures.
The most direct beneficiaries of this transformation are undoubtedly Coinbase and Robinhood. These two companies have long established diverse trading structures, covering mainstream crypto assets, operating traditional securities trading, and providing lending and wallet services. Encouraged by Project Crypto, they are expected to become the first platforms to reap the policy dividends—achieving one-stop services and connecting on-chain products with traditional user groups. Notably, Robinhood has completed the acquisition of Bitstamp this year and officially launched tokenized equity trading, bringing U.S. stocks like Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla online in ERC-20 format. This move is precisely a rehearsal of the Super-App model: using on-chain protocols to provide traditional stock trading experiences without disrupting the familiar usage patterns for users.
On the Coinbase side, it promotes the developer ecosystem through the Base chain, attempting to integrate exchanges, wallets, social, and application layer services. If it can integrate traditional securities and on-chain assets at the compliance level in the future, Coinbase is likely to evolve into a 'on-chain version of Charles Schwab' or 'next-generation Morgan Stanley'—not just an asset entry point but also a complete financial tool distribution and operation platform.
It is foreseeable that once the Super-App architecture is fully released, it will become the core battlefield for competition among trading platforms. Whoever can first achieve compliant 'multi-asset aggregation trading' will occupy a leading position in the next round of financial infrastructure upgrades. The attitude of regulators is becoming increasingly clear, and platforms are already accelerating their entry into the field. For users, this means smoother trading experiences, richer product choices, and a financial world that is closer to the future.
ERC-3643: From technical protocol to policy template, the compliance bridge for the RWA track
In terms of RWA, Paul Atkins explicitly stated in his speech that he will promote the tokenization of traditional assets and specifically mentioned ERC-3643 as a token standard worthy of reference in the regulatory framework. This is also the only token standard publicly mentioned throughout the speech, indicating that ERC-3643 has elevated from a technical protocol to a policy-level reference model, its importance is self-evident.
Paul emphasized that when designing an innovative exemption framework, the SEC will prioritize token systems that have 'built-in compliance capabilities', and the smart contracts of ERC-3643 integrate mechanisms such as permission control, identity verification, and transaction restrictions, which can directly meet the current securities regulations' requirements for KYC, AML, and qualified investors.
The biggest feature of ERC-3643 lies in its design philosophy of 'compliance is code'. It has a built-in decentralized identity framework called ONCHAINID, where all token holders must pass identity verification and comply with preset rules before they can complete holding or transfer operations. Regardless of which public chain the token is deployed on, only users who meet KYC or qualified investor standards can truly own these assets. The smart contract layer completes compliance determinations, eliminating reliance on centralized audits, manual record-keeping, or off-chain agreements.
The biggest difference from ERC-20 lies in the introduction of the 'permission' dimension. ERC-20 was born in a completely open, permissionless on-chain native context, where any wallet address can freely receive and transfer, making it a completely 'fungible tool'. ERC-3643, on the other hand, is aimed at high-value, heavily regulated asset classes like securities, funds, and bonds, emphasizing 'who can hold' and 'whether it is compliant', making it a 'permissioned token standard'. In other words, ERC-20 is the free currency of the crypto world, while ERC-3643 is a compliant container for on-chain finance.
Currently, ERC-3643 has been adopted by multiple countries and financial institutions worldwide. The European digital securities platform Tokeny has been expanding the ERC-3643 standard to the private market securitization in recent years. In June this year, Tokeny announced a partnership with digital securities platform Kerdo to build a blockchain-based private investment infrastructure covering asset types such as real estate, private equity, hedge funds, and private debt through ERC-3643.
From real estate to art collections, from private equity to supply chain notes, ERC-3643 provides the underlying support for the fragmentation, digitization, and global circulation of various assets. It is currently the only public chain token standard that combines programmable compliance, on-chain identity verification, cross-border legal compatibility, and integration with existing financial architecture.
As Paul Atkins mentioned in his speech, the future securities market must not only 'operate on-chain' but also 'comply on-chain'. In this new era, ERC-3643 may become a key bridge connecting the SEC with Ethereum, connecting TradFi with DeFi.
Entrepreneurs are returning to the U.S., and the primary market will take off again from on-chain.
For a long time, the 'Howey Test' has been the main basis for the SEC to determine whether an asset constitutes a security. Specifically, it includes four elements: whether there is an investment of money, whether there is an investment in a common enterprise, whether it relies on the efforts of others to generate profits, and whether there is an expectation of profits. If a project meets all four criteria, it will be classified as a security, thereby becoming subject to a series of securities law frameworks like pre-issuance prospectuses, information disclosure, and regulatory filing.
It is precisely due to the vagueness of this test standard and inconsistent enforcement that many projects in recent years chose to sacrifice the U.S. market to avoid potential regulatory risks, even deliberately 'blocking' U.S. users and not opening airdrops and incentives.
In the newly released Project Crypto policy, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins explicitly stated for the first time: a reclassification standard for crypto assets will be established to provide clear disclosure norms, exemption conditions, and safe harbor mechanisms for common on-chain economic activities such as airdrops, ICOs, and staking. The SEC will no longer default to 'issuing tokens = securities', but will reasonably classify them into different categories such as digital commodities (like Bitcoin), digital collectibles (like NFTs), stablecoins, or securities tokens, according to their economic attributes, and provide appropriate legal pathways.
This represents a key turning point: project teams will no longer need to 'pretend not to issue tokens', nor will they need to use foundations, DAOs, and other circumventing structures to cover incentive mechanisms, and they no longer need to register projects in the Cayman Islands. Instead, teams that truly focus on code, driven by technology, will receive institutional recognition.
In the current landscape where new emerging tracks like AI, DePIN, and SocialFi are rapidly rising and market demand for early financing is surging, this regulatory framework based on substantial classification and innovation encouragement is expected to trigger a wave of projects returning to the U.S. The U.S. is no longer a market that crypto entrepreneurs avoid but may become their first choice for token issuance and fundraising again.
Summary
'Project Crypto' is not a single bill but a comprehensive set of systemic reforms. It depicts a future where decentralized software, token economy, and capital market compliance converge. Paul Atkins' stance is also very clear: 'Regulation should no longer stifle innovation but pave the way for it.'
For the market, this is also a clear signal of policy shift. From DeFi to RWA, from Super App to token issuance and fundraising, who can take off in this round of policy dividends will depend on who can first respond to this U.S.-led 'on-chain capital market revolution'.
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