The American regulator, the SEC, has presented the long-awaited Regulation Crypto Assets project, which for the first time offers a clear legal mechanism for selling tokens to investors in the United States. This initiative, unveiled on Tuesday, not only formalizes an exit from the securities regime but also directly addresses the key issue that has long been a stumbling block in the legal saga surrounding XRP.
The years-long dispute between the SEC and Ripple over the status of XRP highlighted the industry's main problem: how can an issuer legally leave the "gray zone" of securities laws without exhausting litigation? The new project proposes specific conditions that are meant to serve as this very "door."
What the SEC offers token issuers
The project provides two paths for exemption from registration under U.S. securities law. The first is a one-time option allowing the raising of up to $5 million over four years. The second is a larger-scale option, enabling the collection of up to $75 million within any 12-month period. Both paths require issuers to provide investors with simple and clear explanations of the project's essence.
Large projects choosing the second quota will also be required to publish financial statements and regularly report to the regulator. Importantly, federal regulation will take precedence over regional rules: this overrides individual state requirements for primary offerings and part of secondary trading, creating a unified legal framework.
In structure, this resembles the ICO era, when projects raised billions through public sales, but the market was later shut down by regulators. Now, maximum amounts and transparency requirements are set from the very start, which should weed out dishonest players.
This package is a logical continuation of the joint token classification published by the SEC and CFTC on March 17. That clarification already showed how a crypto asset that is not a security can enter or exit an investment contract—the legal form that causes a token sale to fall under securities law. Public comments on the new project will be accepted for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The question that made the XRP case famous has received a written answer
The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, claiming that XRP sales violated registration requirements. In 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP itself is not a security, but certain institutional transactions violated the law. The process concluded in August 2025, but left behind a problem: a token could only obtain an exemption from security status through a court decision, and no clear algorithm for exiting without litigation existed.
The new "safe harbor" offers precisely the missing mechanism. When a team completes or officially ceases the stated managerial work for buyers, the asset no longer falls under the definition of an investment contract. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins explained that the proposal provides a "haven" for an issuer that has completed or permanently ceased all key managerial actions it stated or promised under the investment contract.
The market has barely reacted so far. XRP is hovering around $1—virtually no change over the past day. The token's market capitalization stands at $62.7 billion, ranking sixth overall. XRP's price remains far from its July 2025 record of $3.65.
Now the focus is on the comment-collection phase and consideration in Congress, where the CLARITY Act, which defines the digital asset market structure, awaits a Senate vote. The final terms of the "haven" will be crucial for issuers that launched tokens outside the U.S.: they will determine whether sales return to the American market.
My view: this is undoubtedly a historic step, but it is important to understand that the "haven" is not a gift. The SEC is creating a framework that will allow projects to legalize, but with strict reporting and transparency requirements. For XRP, this is more of a symbolic confirmation of a path already traveled, while for future issuers, it is a new set of rules that could radically change the landscape of primary offerings in the U.S. The question is how quickly Congress can adapt this to existing legislation.