Public Consultation on ETFs: The SEC Lays the Groundwork For More Suitable Regulation of Digital Assets

The SEC launched on July 1, 2026 a 60-day public consultation on its regulatory framework applicable to new ETFs, notably those exposed to crypto. The US ETF market jumped from 4,000 to 12,000 billion dollars between 2019 and 2025, largely driven by the automatic activation procedure that the SEC is now seeking to rethink. 

Why does the SEC put ETFs back on the table?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US federal financial markets regulator, has just published an official request for comments regarding its automatic ETF activation system. 

This mechanism has allowed certain funds for several years to join the markets without going through a full regulatory exemption request. Until now reserved for the most conventional products, its scope is now debated.

The consultation specifically targets ETFs whose main strategy is based on assets that US law does not register as traditional securities, a category that includes the US spot Bitcoin ETFs that the SEC authorized in January 2024.

Behind the technical questions on implementation timelines and disclosure obligations, the entire ETF framework architecture is at stake.

What concrete impact for crypto and alternative assets?

Paul Atkins, SEC chairman since early 2026, clearly stated the issue in a statement: 

The consultation aims to gather views on how the US ETF market can continue its growth and innovation while effectively serving investors. 

Under his leadership, the agency has made adopting new technologies a clear priority, with parallel work on the tokenization of financial securities.

Jaret Seiberg, policy analyst at TD Cowen, interprets this approach as building a case for future decisions. The consultation would allow the SEC to document market support before officially authorizing ETFs based on crypto assets, event contracts, or individual stock strategies. 

One question remains open, and the SEC explicitly posed it in its document: can an ETF provider investing mainly in unsecuritized assets be qualified as an investment company under US law?

The answer to this question will directly condition the accessibility of upcoming products to the general public.

In short, the SEC is not closing one file; it is opening a new one. With this consultation, the agency is preparing the regulatory ground for more diversified ETFs, from crypto assets to event contracts. The momentum is there: a market tripled in six years, a president favorable to innovation, an activation procedure to modernize. Industry players have 60 days to weigh in the debate and potentially shape the rules for the next generation of ETFs in the United States.