Crypto World
Pennsylvania Just Added One Gate That Every Data Center Developer Has to Clear
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed Executive Order 2026-05 on August 18, changing the way the state reviews permits for data centers with peak demand exceeding 25 MW.
The order takes effect immediately and creates two review tracks, depending on whether a developer signs a binding agreement with state regulators.
How Pennsylvania Will Review Data Center Permits
Developers who commit to the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development requirements can sign a consent order with the Department of Environmental Protection. Those developers receive a rolling review of their applications.
Developers who decline wait until every application is filed and reviewed. They also lose access to two state programs that guarantee permit turnaround times.
Both tracks share one gate. DEP cannot issue permits, or for non-signers begin review, until a developer shows the project matches the local comprehensive plan and holds all municipal approvals.
The order also removes every data center from the Fast Track permitting program.
“…if the local community doesn’t approve a project, the state won’t approve it either,” Governor Shapiro said.
The order cites reports of more than 100 proposed facilities statewide. DEP has received permit applications tied to 20 facilities.
Cost pressure sits behind the move. Data centers drove $29.4 billion in capacity charges to ratepayers across PJM Interconnection’s last four base residual auctions, or 46% of total auction costs, according to the PJM Independent Market Monitor. PJM serves all or parts of 13 states and Washington, DC.
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State Backlash Spreads Against AI Data Centers
Pennsylvania joins a widening group. In July, New York’s Governor paused state environmental permit issuance for up to 1 year.
Texas subsequently ordered an audit of all data centers, with projects failing to meet the requirements set by the PUCT and ERCOT barred from connecting to the state’s power grid.
The growing scrutiny extends beyond regulators. Communities and the wider public have also raised concerns about the rapid expansion of AI data centers.
Gallup found that 70% of Americans oppose having an AI data center built near where they live. On July 18, a national day of protest against data centers saw 142 demonstrations across 42 states.
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The post Pennsylvania Just Added One Gate That Every Data Center Developer Has to Clear appeared first on BeInCrypto.
SpaceX is trading below its $135 IPO price. Marathon Digital is down 34% year to date. Coinbase has outperformed both. The math on which tech bet delivers risk adjusted returns has not been done until now.
Summary
- SpaceX stock (SPCX) trades at approximately $131 as of mid August, 3% below its $135 IPO price from June 2026, after peaking at $225.64 and declining 48% from that high, giving early investors a negative return two months into the listing.
- Coinbase (COIN) has returned roughly 18% year to date through August 2026, outperforming SpaceX, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and every other publicly traded crypto company, driven by exchange volume and stablecoin custody revenue rather than bitcoin price appreciation alone.
- Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) have declined 34% and 29% respectively in 2026, tracking bitcoin’s flat to negative price action while absorbing rising energy costs and post halving margin compression.
- A dollar invested in bitcoin on January 1, 2026 would have returned approximately 4% by mid August, while a dollar invested in MARA would have lost 34 cents, meaning the underlying asset outperformed the company that mines it by 38 percentage points.
- ARK Invest has deployed over $475 million into SpaceX stock since the IPO despite the price decline, while simultaneously reducing its COIN position, creating a measurable bet that SpaceX will outperform crypto equities over the next 12 months.
The largest IPO in history arrived in June 2026 and immediately became the most traded stock in the world. SpaceX priced at $135, opened above $190, touched $225.64 within two weeks, and then fell 48% to a post IPO low of $119.79 before stabilizing near $131. Two months after listing, buyers at the IPO price are underwater. Buyers at the peak have lost nearly half their position.
During the same period, the crypto industry’s publicly traded companies followed their own trajectory. Coinbase gained 18% year to date. Marathon Digital lost 34%. Riot Platforms lost 29%. MicroStrategy, which rebranded to Strategy and now holds over 500,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet, moved roughly in line with bitcoin itself. The performances diverge sharply enough to raise a question that retail investors have been asking without receiving a rigorous answer: which of these bets actually pays?
The question matters because SpaceX and crypto stocks are competing for the same capital. They attract the same cohort of retail investors who seek asymmetric returns in technology. They trade on the same platforms. They appear in the same ARK Invest portfolios. And they share a common vulnerability: both are priced on narratives that have not yet been validated by sustained cash flow, which means the math on returns, volatility, and risk adjusted performance determines which narrative deserves the premium.
The SpaceX return that was not
SpaceX reported $7.8 billion in second quarter revenue, exceeding Wall Street estimates. The company completed a $60 billion stock based acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind the Cursor coding platform, adding an AI business to its rocket and satellite operations. Starlink, its satellite internet division, crossed 5 million subscribers. By every operational metric, SpaceX is performing.
The stock is not. At $131, SPCX sits 3% below its IPO price. The gap between operational strength and stock weakness has a specific cause: the 911.5 million insider shares that became eligible for sale in early August. The lockup expiration created a supply overhang that the market has not yet absorbed.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest responded by buying more. The firm has deployed over $475 million into SPCX since the IPO, purchasing through the decline and adding $52.1 million in a single week in mid July. Raymond James set an $800 price target, the highest on Wall Street, implying a 510% return from current levels.
But the return that matters for comparison purposes is the one investors have actually received: negative 3% over two months for IPO buyers, negative 42% for buyers at the $225 peak, and negative 11% for the median entry price across the first month of trading. The SpaceX IPO has been, for most participants, a losing trade.
The crypto stock scorecard
The publicly traded crypto sector offers a wider range of outcomes than SpaceX, and the dispersion reveals which business models are working and which are not.
Coinbase (COIN): Up approximately 18% year to date. The exchange benefits from trading volume that scales with market volatility rather than market direction. Stablecoin custody revenue, institutional prime brokerage fees, and the Base L2 network’s transaction revenue have diversified the company beyond pure exchange commissions. COIN is the only major crypto stock that has consistently outperformed bitcoin in 2026.
Marathon Digital (MARA): Down 34% year to date. The largest publicly traded bitcoin miner by hash rate has been squeezed by the April 2024 halving, which cut block rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. Energy costs in Texas, where Marathon operates its largest facilities, have risen 12% year over year. The company mines bitcoin at an all in cost of approximately $43,000 per coin, leaving thin margins at current prices near $58,000.
Riot Platforms (RIOT): Down 29% year to date. Similar dynamics to Marathon, with the additional pressure of a protracted proxy fight that diverted management attention through the first half of the year. Riot’s Corsicana facility in Texas is the largest single mining site in the world by capacity, but capacity does not equal profitability when the bitcoin price is flat and energy costs are rising.
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy, MSTR): Roughly flat year to date, tracking bitcoin. The company holds over 500,000 BTC on its balance sheet, making it a leveraged proxy for bitcoin price. Its stock trades at a persistent premium to net asset value, which is a bet that the company will continue acquiring bitcoin at favorable terms. The premium has compressed from over 100% in late 2024 to roughly 40% in August 2026.
CleanSpark (CLSK): Down 22% year to date. The company has focused on acquiring distressed mining facilities at discount prices, building hash rate more cheaply than Marathon or Riot. The strategy is sound on paper, but the stock has not rewarded it because the market is pricing all miners on the same metric: bitcoin price minus energy cost, and both variables are working against the sector.
The arithmetic nobody performed
Here is the comparison that matters and that no coverage has assembled in one place. Consider a hypothetical investor with $10,000 on January 1, 2026, choosing among five options: buy bitcoin directly, buy COIN, buy MARA, buy RIOT, or wait for the SpaceX IPO and buy at the $135 listing price.
Bitcoin directly: $10,000 becomes approximately $10,400. A 4% return with no management fee, no dilution risk, and no operational leverage. The holder owns the asset and bears only price risk.
COIN: $10,000 becomes approximately $11,800. An 18% return, reflecting Coinbase’s diversified revenue and its position as the primary institutional on ramp for U.S. crypto markets.
MARA: $10,000 becomes approximately $6,600. A 34% loss, despite Marathon mining a total of approximately 6,700 bitcoin in the first half of 2026. The company produced the asset but destroyed shareholder value relative to simply holding it.
RIOT: $10,000 becomes approximately $7,100. A 29% loss, with similar dynamics to Marathon.
SpaceX (from IPO): $10,000 becomes approximately $9,700. A 3% loss over two months, with a maximum drawdown of 48% from the peak.
The result is stark. The best performing option is a crypto company that does not mine, hold, or produce bitcoin. The worst performing options are companies whose entire business model is producing bitcoin. And the underlying asset itself outperformed three of the four equities tied to it, despite returning only 4%.
This pattern has repeated in every bitcoin cycle since mining stocks became publicly traded. Miners underperform bitcoin during flat or declining markets because their costs are fixed in dollars while their revenue is fixed in bitcoin. When bitcoin rises sharply, miners outperform because of operational leverage. But the periods of underperformance are longer and deeper than the periods of outperformance, which means a buy and hold investor in mining stocks has historically been better served by holding bitcoin directly.
What SpaceX and crypto stocks have in common
The comparison is not arbitrary. SpaceX and crypto stocks share structural characteristics that make them substitutes in retail portfolios.
Both are narrative driven. SpaceX is priced on the Starlink subscriber trajectory, the Starship program’s success rate, and Elon Musk’s ability to execute on a vision that includes Mars colonization. Crypto stocks are priced on bitcoin’s next cycle, Ethereum’s fee revenue, and the assumption that regulatory clarity will unlock institutional capital. In both cases, current cash flows do not justify current valuations. The premium is a bet on a future that has not arrived.
Both attract the same investor cohort. Retail trading platforms report that SpaceX and crypto stocks are among their most traded instruments. ARK Invest, which is the largest institutional holder of both COIN and SPCX, treats them as part of the same “disruptive innovation” thesis. The capital that flows into SpaceX on IPO day is capital that does not flow into COIN or MARA that week.
Both are accessible through synthetic instruments on crypto rails. Hyperliquid’s SPCX perpetual future tracked the IPO tick for tick, hosting a $14 million leveraged short that no brokerage would have offered. The existence of equity perps on crypto venues means that the distinction between “stock” and “crypto” is blurring for the traders who move the most volume.
And both are vulnerable to the same macro risk. With the CLARITY Act’s passage odds falling to 10% and regulatory certainty fading, the political tailwind that crypto stocks relied on is weakening. Higher interest rates compress the valuation multiples of unprofitable or marginally profitable growth companies. SpaceX’s AI spending hit $15.8 billion in the second quarter, raising questions about burn rate. Mining companies face rising energy costs that erode already thin margins. If the Fed holds rates higher for longer, both sectors suffer.
Where they diverge
The differences matter as much as the similarities.
SpaceX generates real revenue from real customers. Starlink’s 5 million subscribers pay monthly fees. Government launch contracts provide predictable income. The Cursor acquisition adds AI revenue. SpaceX’s revenue base is diversified across industries that have nothing to do with each other. This is not true of any crypto stock: every publicly traded crypto company derives the majority of its revenue from a single source (bitcoin mining, exchange volume, or token holdings).
SpaceX has a capital structure problem that crypto stocks do not. The 911.5 million insider shares that unlocked in August represent roughly 30% of the company’s outstanding stock. This supply overhang will take months to absorb. Crypto stocks have their own dilution issues (MARA has repeatedly issued shares to fund mining equipment purchases), but none faces a single lockup expiration of this magnitude.
Crypto stocks offer direct exposure to an asset class that SpaceX does not touch. A bet on COIN is partly a bet on bitcoin, partly a bet on Ethereum, partly a bet on stablecoin adoption, and partly a bet on DeFi volume. A bet on SpaceX is a bet on rockets, satellites, and AI. The correlation between these bets is low, which means they serve different portfolio functions even if they attract the same investors.
The ARK Invest signal
ARK Invest’s portfolio moves provide a measurable signal about how at least one major institutional investor is weighing these bets. Cathie Wood has bought SpaceX aggressively through the decline while reducing her COIN position during its rally. The trades imply a view that SpaceX is cheaper relative to its growth potential than Coinbase is.
The logic is not unreasonable. At $131, SpaceX trades at roughly 17 times trailing revenue, compared to Coinbase at approximately 12 times trailing revenue. But SpaceX’s revenue is growing faster (estimated 40% year over year versus Coinbase’s 25%), and its addressable market (global internet access, government launch, AI infrastructure) is arguably larger than Coinbase’s (U.S. crypto trading and custody).
The counterargument is that SpaceX’s valuation was set by a controlled IPO process in which demand was artificially constrained, while Coinbase’s valuation has been set by three years of public market price discovery. The IPO price may simply have been too high, and the current decline is a correction to fair value rather than a buying opportunity.
ARK’s bet will be judged over 12 to 36 months, not two. But the size of the position ($475 million and growing) means that ARK’s performance in 2027 will be materially affected by whether SpaceX recovers from its post IPO decline. If it does, the SpaceX bet will look prescient. If it does not, the opportunity cost of not holding COIN or bitcoin directly will be significant.
What to watch
SpaceX insider selling volume. The 911.5 million unlocked shares represent the largest near term risk to the stock. Watch weekly SEC filings for the pace and size of insider sales. If selling decelerates before September, the supply overhang is being absorbed.
Bitcoin mining profitability after the halving. Marathon and Riot report all in mining costs quarterly. If costs exceed $50,000 per bitcoin and the price stays below $60,000, expect further share price declines and potential consolidation in the mining sector.
Coinbase revenue diversification. Base L2 transaction revenue, stablecoin custody fees, and international exchange volume are the metrics that determine whether COIN continues to outperform. Watch the Q3 earnings report in November.
Equity perps volume on Hyperliquid. If synthetic stock trading on crypto venues grows, it creates a feedback loop: more crypto native capital flows into stock exposure, potentially reducing demand for crypto stocks as a proxy for traditional market access.
ARK Invest rebalancing. Any reduction of the SpaceX position or increase in COIN would signal a shift in Wood’s relative conviction and would move both stocks given ARK’s position size.
Why compare SpaceX stock to crypto stocks?
SpaceX and crypto stocks compete for the same pool of retail capital seeking asymmetric returns in technology. They trade on the same platforms, appear in the same institutional portfolios, and share structural characteristics including narrative driven valuations and sensitivity to interest rate changes.
Has SpaceX stock been a good investment since its IPO?
No, as of mid August 2026. SPCX trades at approximately $131, below its $135 IPO price, after peaking at $225.64 and declining 48%. Most retail buyers who purchased in the first month of trading are underwater.
Which crypto stock has performed best in 2026?
Coinbase (COIN) has returned approximately 18% year to date, outperforming every other major publicly traded crypto company. The outperformance reflects diversified revenue from exchange commissions, stablecoin custody, institutional services, and the Base L2 network.
Why do bitcoin mining stocks underperform bitcoin?
Mining stocks have fixed dollar costs (energy, equipment, labor) and revenue denominated in bitcoin. When bitcoin’s price is flat or declining, miners face margin compression that does not affect holders of the underlying asset. This structural mismatch causes mining stocks to underperform bitcoin during sideways and bearish markets.
Can you buy SpaceX stock on crypto platforms?
Not directly, but Hyperliquid and other decentralized venues offer perpetual futures contracts that track SpaceX’s stock price. These synthetic instruments provide leveraged exposure without equity ownership, dividends, or voting rights.
How much has ARK Invest put into SpaceX?
ARK Invest has deployed over $475 million into SpaceX stock since the June 2026 IPO, purchasing through the price decline. The firm has simultaneously reduced its Coinbase position, signaling a relative preference for SpaceX’s growth potential.
Is it better to hold bitcoin or bitcoin mining stocks?
Historically, holding bitcoin directly has outperformed holding mining stocks on a buy and hold basis. In 2026, bitcoin returned approximately 4% while Marathon Digital lost 34% and Riot Platforms lost 29%. Mining stocks offer leveraged upside during strong bull markets but deeper drawdowns during flat or bearish periods.
What is the biggest risk to SpaceX stock right now?
The 911.5 million insider shares that became eligible for sale in August 2026. This supply overhang represents roughly 30% of outstanding shares and could suppress the stock price for months as insiders gradually sell their positions. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Stock and cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions. Information is accurate as of August 19, 2026.
“The U.S. side should abandon the Cold War mentality and foster an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for educational, scientific and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States,” it added.
Here’s what to know about the raft of policies aimed at curbing institutional ties to China.
Order targets primarily Chinese institutions
The foreign institutions the U.S. seeks to blacklist were identified by the Pentagon last month. Eighty-eight of the 130 institutions are in mainland China, while the remaining institutions are in Russia and Iran. The list has been updated annually since an earlier version was first released in 2023. It was established under Section 1286 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which was enacted during President Donald Trump’s first term.
While some Chinese universities on the list have more explicit ties to the military, others are prominent civilian institutions with extensive international research partnerships. These include Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The updated list also added a number of other Chinese institutions with varying links to China’s defense and security establishment, including Shandong University, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Shenyang Aerospace University, and the University of International Relations.
Target earnings easily beast fiscal second-quarter earnings views early Wednesday, while revenue, same-store sales and guidance also were strong. But TGT stock tumbled in premarket trade. TJX Cos. (TJX) earnings are also due before the markets open. Among other retail earnings, Walmart (WMT) and Ross Stores (ROST) follow on Thursday. Target Earnings Target earnings doubled to $4.11 a share, crushing…
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Japanese BTC treasury company Metaplanet has disclosed a deal that will put a man Bloomberg describes as “Tokyo’s King of Death Spiral Financing” on both sides of the takeover.
Metaplanet wants to take control of Nasdaq gaming company Super League Enterprise in a $135 million deal.
Once the takeover is complete, Evo Fund, a Cayman islands fund launched by Princeton graduate and former Barings trader Michael Lerch, will pick up warrants for up to 10 million Super League shares.
It also financed Metaplanet’s BTC buying in Tokyo, putting Lerch on both sides of the deal.
Moreover, Evo’s fund bought into Super League in September 2025 via a “$10 million strategic equity investment.”
That infusion helped Super League, which will change its name to Superplanet once the deal passes shareholder approval, regain compliance with Nasdaq’s equity rules.
Read more: MetaPlanet tanking 35% sparks fury: ‘Short squeeze them to Valhalla!’
Evo Fund’s warrants dilute shareholders
Japanese business press has nicknamed Lerch the “mysterious alchemist” for how his fund’s warrants dilute companies.
Indeed, Evo is Japan’s largest buyer of floating-strike equity warrants. Bloomberg describes Lerch as synonymous with the death spiral financing trading strategy.
Specifically, his warrants often price using a moving, rather than static, strike price. As a result, rights built into clauses of Lerch’s contracts allow Evo to exercise convertability into stock at a lower price as shares fall.
Each exercise dilutes existing holders even more as the price declines.
For scale, consider that Evo’s 2025 warrant transactions in Japan exceeded ¥1 trillion, or roughly $6.3 billion. That captured more than 80% of the country’s floating-warrant market.
On the Super League side, Evo is now a named counterparty. Lerch’s fund will probably receive warrants under the filing that hands Metaplanet control.
Super League’s disclosure lists two subscription agreements dated the same day.
Metaplanet’s Florida subsidiary, Metaplanet Holdings, subscribes for 44,859,400 common shares at $3 each. It also gets 100 shares of convertible preferred stock and four 10-year warrants covering up to 381 million shares.
Evo’s agreement grants two two-year warrants for up to 10 million shares, at fixed prices of $3 and $5.55. That is, and somewhat uncharacteristic for the “Tokyo’s King of Death Spiral Financing,” not a floating strike on this deal.
Sadakazu Osaki, a researcher at Japan’s Nomura Research Institute, warned that floating-strike warrants like Evo’s are “the last financing resort for underperforming companies.”
Metaplanet has used exactly that instrument, at enormous scale, to fund its BTC purchases.
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Telegram has applied for its own top-level domain. Founder Pavel Durov said approval would give the app’s one billion users a personal web address like yourname.gram.
Durov posted the news on X. The filing entered ICANN’s 2026 round, the first such window since 2012.
What the Telegram .gram Domain Would Unlock, and When
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) governs the internet’s address system. Its 2026 application window closed on August 12 after 15 weeks.
ICANN counted more than 1,600 primary applications in that round. Applicants filed a further 1,100 requests for backup strings. Therefore, .gram now waits in a crowded queue.
Durov built the pitch around Telegram usernames. Holders could claim yourname.gram, then publish an interactive site that Telegram hosts. Those usernames already work as identity across the app. A matching web address would carry that handle beyond chat.
Moreover, he promised that a single artificial intelligence prompt would generate those pages. The plan stretches Telegram’s TON blockchain push from payments into web publishing. Telegram would run the hosting itself. That setup keeps users off outside providers and inside the app’s orbit.
Brand top-level domains already exist, and Google and Amazon run their own. Telegram’s version would differ, since it opens the space to ordinary account holders.
ICANN has approved nothing yet. The body will publish the list of cleared strings by mid-October. Evaluation, contention resolution, and contracting follow. Those stages can take months.
Durov cannot set a launch date, because ICANN controls the schedule. On that path, a working .gram address looks unlikely before 2027. He also gave no word on whether every account would receive one for free.
GRAM Trades 84% Below Its Record
Gram (GRAM), the token Durov rebranded from Toncoin in June, changed hands near $1.32. It has shed about 35% over the past 90 days, though it edged up 0.7% on the day.
That level sits 84% under the record high of $8.25 from June 2024. The token still holds a $3.65 billion market value and ranks 25th by size. Its full trading range runs from $0.52 to $8.25.
So far, traders have shown little conviction since the post. The ecosystem keeps widening regardless. Telegram pledged a native non-custodial wallet inside every app this summer, and it now runs the network’s largest validator.
Meanwhile, Durov fights on another front. Russia charged him with facilitating terrorism in July, and he rejected Moscow’s surveillance demands in a public reply.
Durov spent 2026 expanding the Telegram ecosystem on his own terms. A green light would hand every user a personal corner of the web, built from a single prompt.
The post Telegram .gram Domain Bid Could Give 1 Billion Users a Website in One Prompt appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Nexo Australia launched crypto-backed credit lines after becoming a credit representative under Australia’s National Consumer Credit Protection Act, the company said in a Tuesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
The new credit lines allow eligible clients to borrow Australian dollars or stablecoins by using their cryptocurrencies as collateral without having to sell them.
Funds are generally available within 24 hours with flexible repayments, with no fixed term or origination fees. Interest rates range from 0.9% to 21.9%, depending on the credit line and the client’s loyalty tier.
Clients can choose between Smart and Standard credit lines, Peter Stanhope, general manager at Nexo Australia, told Cointelegraph.
“The main differences are in rates, asset selection, and how client collateral is managed if their [loan-to-value ratio] rises,” Stanhope said.
Nexo said borrowing against digital assets carries margin-call and liquidation risks, meaning clients could lose some or all of their collateral if its value falls.
The milestone makes Nexo one of the few crypto platforms to offer regulated crypto-backed credit lines to Australian users. In May 2026, Block Earner became the first crypto company in Australia to secure its own Australian Credit License from ASIC.
Nexo Australia is registered with the country’s anti-money laundering watchdog, AUSTRAC, as a virtual asset service provider and is a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
Magazine: Why Australia’s $17B crypto opportunity depends on regulation
Ripple Prime’s inaugural senior notes carried an investment grade rating and drew institutional investors across key financial markets.
BTC volatility has dropped to multi-year lows as surging Treasury yields rattle equities and traders await the Fed’s July meeting minutes for clues on the interest-rate path.
The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets includes a conditional safe harbor that could allow a crypto asset to be delinked from an investment contract with which it was once associated. The proposal pairs that safe harbor with new exemptions designed for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets.
Earlier today, the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a proposed framework for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. It includes two exemptions from registration under the Securities Act of 1933 and a conditional safe harbor related to the term investment contract.
With our new proposal, the SEC is taking the most historic step yet to modernize federal securities regulations for crypto assets. — Paul Atkins (@SECPaulSAtkins) August 18, 2026
As the Crypto Capital of the World, the U.S. must and will lead. Regulation Crypto Assets will ensure that we do. 
pic.twitter.com/z0MmDF4doV
The startup exemption would permit offerings of up to $5 million during a four-year period. The fundraising exemption would permit offerings of up to $75 million during each 12-month period. Under both exemptions, issuers would provide principles-based narrative disclosures.
The proposal states that issuers would remain subject to the federal securities laws’ antifraud and antimanipulation provisions. It also would preempt state securities-law registration and qualification requirements for offers and sales of securities issued under a Regulation Crypto Assets exemption, as well as certain secondary-market transactions.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
The Crypto Conditional Safe Harbor from the SEC
Alongside the exemptions, the proposed rules include a conditional safe harbor from the term investment contract in the definitions of security under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If the safe harbor’s conditions are satisfied, a crypto asset would be deemed not to be subject to an investment contract for purposes of those definitions.
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce described the safe harbor as a way for an issuer of an investment contract to delink a crypto asset from the investment contract with which it was once associated. The condition described by the SEC is that the issuer has completed or permanently ceased all essential managerial efforts it represented or promised it would take under an investment contract.
The proposal follows the SEC and CFTC’s March 2026 interpretation addressing how federal securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and transactions involving crypto assets. The SEC has presented the proposed rules and earlier interpretation as part of a tailored securities offering regime for crypto assets.
The safe harbor is conditional, and the proposal is not presented as a framework for every crypto-asset model. Peirce said the exemptions and safe harbor will not fit every model and invited public feedback on the proposal.
Peirce also requested input on facilitating a role akin to equity for crypto assets, allowing token holders to share in the growth and value of the enterprise that builds a crypto network. That issue is an area for feedback, rather than a feature established by the proposal.
The proposal’s two exemptions are limited by their respective offering caps and disclosure conditions. The safe harbor, meanwhile, is tied to completion or permanent cessation of the issuer’s essential managerial efforts under the investment contract.
Trade Crypto on Bybit and Get a Chance to Win Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop
Congressional Context and Public Comment
The SEC said Regulation Crypto Assets comes as Congress works to establish a lasting regulatory framework. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said the proposal seeks to provide crypto-asset entrepreneurs and market participants with pathways to raise capital under federal securities laws while those broader efforts continue.
The proposal is now subject to public comment. The SEC says the comment period will remain open for 60 days after publication of the proposing release in the Federal Register.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
The post SEC Unveils Two Crypto Funding Exemptions and Token Safe Harbor appeared first on Cryptonews.
The feature, which follows earlier moves into financial transactions, is not yet being tested anywhere, a spokesperson said.
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