SEC Crypto Safe Harbor Moves to White House Review as Atkins Signals Proposal Is Near

• SEC Chair Paul Atkins said a proposed crypto safe harbor framework is now under White House review.
• The proposal is at OIRA, the final review stage before publication, and Atkins said a formal rule package should be released shortly.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has moved one of its closely watched crypto proposals into the White House review process, a step that suggests the agency is getting closer to putting an actual framework on the table rather than just talking around it. Speaking on Monday at the Digital Assets and Emerging Technology Policy Summit hosted by Vanderbilt University and the Blockchain Association, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the proposal is now with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA, which reviews federal rules before they are published. OIRA review puts the proposal on a more formal track Atkins said the SEC would be proposing “reg crypto” shortly, adding that the proposal is already at OIRA. That matters because OIRA review is typically the last procedural stop before a rulemaking proposal becomes public. The safe harbor concept, as described in recent reporting around Atkins’ remarks, is meant to give crypto projects room to launch and raise capital without having to complete securities registration immediately. The broader idea is to create a more tailored pathway for token issuers while keeping at least some disclosure and investor-protection framework in place. A shift from speeches to actual rule text That does not mean the framework is finished, or that it will move through public comment without resistance. It does mean the conversation is becoming more concrete. For months, much of Washington’s crypto debate has been heavy on principle and light on mechanism. This looks different. If the proposal is published in the near term, market participants will finally have actual text to scrutinize, not just broad signals from agency speeches. For founders, exchanges and legal teams, that alone changes the tone. The question is no longer whether the SEC wants to discuss bespoke crypto rules. It is what, exactly, those rules will say once they are out in the open.