Global Digital Finance (GDF) submitted a response to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, addressing the introduction of a tailored offering framework for crypto assets and an investment contract safe harbour.
GDF welcomes the SEC’s efforts to establish clearer regulatory pathways for cryptoasset fundraising and investment, while emphasising the importance of legal certainty, proportionate compliance requirements and effective investor protection. The response supports a principles-based framework that reflects the characteristics of digital assets and provides predictable regulatory treatment throughout a project’s lifecycle.
The submission highlights several key priorities, including clarifying the distinction between underlying crypto assets and the investment contracts through which they are offered, establishing tailored disclosure requirements and ensuring that startup and fundraising exemptions provide practical routes for responsible market participants.
GDF also recommends developing objective criteria for determining when an investment contract has ended, including clearer guidance on functioning blockchain networks, ongoing managerial efforts and the responsibilities of trading platforms, custodians and other intermediaries. The response stresses the importance of protecting reasonable, good-faith reliance on regulatory filings while maintaining appropriate safeguards against fraud and misconduct.
The submission further calls for greater coordination between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), clearer treatment of cross-border offerings and foreign issuers, and consistency with related US regulatory frameworks, including the GENIUS Act.
Overall, GDF advocates for a technology-neutral and proportionate regulatory framework that facilitates responsible capital formation, strengthens investor confidence and provides greater certainty for the development of US digital asset markets.
Date:
20 October 2026