SEC Eyes Return of Public Token Sales With $75 Million Crypto Fundraising Plan

Highlights:

• The SEC could let crypto projects raise up to $75 million each year through public token sales.
• Smaller crypto projects could raise up to $5 million over four years.
• New token sales would face tighter rules than those during the 2018 ICO boom.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rules allowing crypto projects to raise up to $75 million annually, according to Bloomberg. The proposal creates two exemptions that would let qualifying crypto projects raise capital without completing full securities registration.

The SEC is trying to bring back from the dead the once-booming business of initial coin offerings. https://t.co/EAOYvFyhfc

— Bloomberg (@business) August 28, 2026

The exemption would allow projects that are in their early rollout to be able to raise a maximum of $5 million in four years. For issuers, the exemption would be capped at $75 million over a year. The projects under either exemption would have to provide investors with essential details regarding their businesses, tokens, and fundraising initiatives. Issuers under the exemption of $75 million would also be required to file financial statements and periodic reports.

Larger offerings under the fundraising exemption would trigger additional requirements, including audited financial statements at specified thresholds. The proposal could reopen public token fundraising after years of SEC enforcement pushed much of that activity outside the United States.

The SEC placed Regulation Crypto Assets on its rulemaking schedule in July after the framework completed White House review. The SEC sent an earlier safe harbor framework for White House review in April with the same two fundraising exemptions. That framework also proposed a route that could eventually separate qualifying tokens from their original investment contracts.

🚨NEW: The @SECGov has just formally proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a new framework for crypto fundraising in the U.S.

The proposal would:

📌Allow certain offerings of up to $5M over four years or $75M annually without SEC registration

📌Create a conditional safe harbor… pic.twitter.com/2ATeTddc3s

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) August 18, 2026

The SEC will accept public comments on Regulation Crypto Assets for 60 days after its Federal Register publication. The comment period gives market participants a formal route to respond before the agency considers final rules.

SEC Opens Public Route for Token Sales Under New Rules

Public token sales drove crypto fundraising during the ICO boom, which raised about $3 billion in January 2018 alone. During that period, projects often raised investor money using white papers and newly issued tokens with limited disclosure. Many investors bought ICO tokens expecting their prices to rise after exchanges opened secondary-market trading.

Failed projects and falling crypto prices later reduced investor demand following the market downturn that year. Pump-and-dump schemes also exposed ICO investors to manipulation and increased regulatory concerns about public token offerings. The SEC later pursued crypto issuers that the agency accused of conducting unregistered securities offerings. The enforcement campaign helped move much of the public token fundraising business away from US investors.

An issuer could use the safe harbor after completing or permanently ending the essential managerial work it promised investors. The safe harbor could end investment-contract treatment for the underlying crypto asset once the issuer satisfies those conditions. This mechanism would distinguish the original fundraising contract from the token after the issuer completes its promised work.

Projects using Reg CA would compete for investor capital in a market that has changed sharply since the 2018 ICO boom. Crypto investors can now direct speculative capital toward perpetual futures and prediction markets instead of newly issued tokens. Some crypto venture firms have also shifted capital toward artificial intelligence, robotics and other technology sectors.

CLARITY Act Leaves Wider Crypto Rules Unsettled

Reg CA addresses crypto fundraising through SEC authority as Congress continues debating broader rules for digital asset markets. The CLARITY Act would divide federal crypto oversight between the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The SEC and CFTC issued a joint interpretation in March explaining how existing federal laws apply to several crypto asset categories. Congress could make those regulatory divisions more durable by placing agency responsibilities into federal law through the CLARITY Act.

Political disputes over crypto ethics provisions have also slowed Senate negotiations on the legislation. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal asked the SEC to investigate President Donald Trump’s memecoin.