SEC新规倒计时：「创新豁免」如何驱动Coinbase收购布局

On the morning of December 2nd, local time, Paul Atkins, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), confirmed in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange that the innovative exemption rules for cryptocurrency companies have been included in the 2026 roadmap and will come into effect next January.

Cryptocurrencies were not the main topic of discussion during this speech. Paul Atkins chose to give the speech at the New York Stock Exchange with the intention of reducing the disclosure requirements for innovative companies, thereby reducing mandatory disclosures and streamlining the process based on company size, making it easier for smaller companies to go public. Additionally, Paul Atkins hopes to “depolitisize” shareholder meetings, focusing more on the operations of companies.

Paul Atkins believes that the current regulatory requirements for disclosure are too complex, and that attention should be focused on “financial significance”. Bloomberg believes that Paul Atkins is hinting at the Trump administration’s opposition to initiatives proposed by shareholders that focus on environmental, social, and governance aspects. It is also believed that such disclosures should be reduced.

The mention of these topics that seem unrelated to cryptocurrencies is because the specific terms regarding the innovative exemption rules for cryptocurrency companies have not yet been announced. However, we can draw some conclusions from the listing of several Web3 companies this year, as well as the attitude of the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

首先，SEC的新班子并非有意「放松监管」，而是希望将原本监管条例中过时的，冗杂的规则剔除，从而降低公司的合规成本。多家美媒的新闻报道中均有提及，Paul Atkins希望降低「强制披露」的要求，但会要求提高「财务重要性」信息的比重。包括Circle、Bullish等Crypto公司的上市恰恰体现了这一趋势。

至于「豁免」，美国证券法其实早有明确规定，其本质上就是一些可以免去复杂注册流程的特殊情况。在此前的很多代币的发行其实都利用了证券法的豁免政策，并且需要满足一系列规定才有可能上线例如Coinbase、Kraken等交易所来向美国本土的散户投资者开放。

但满足这些豁免政策的要求本身也是一件非常麻烦的事情。笔者曾从知情人士处了解到，Zksync其实很早就想发行代币，但如此规模的项目为了不引来监管的麻烦，在组织架构上经历了非常复杂的调整，最终才在保证完全合规的前提下成功发行了代币。

以上这些例子都有一个大前提，那就是代币仍被定义为某种意义上的证券。但新的豁免政策可能会做出一些改变。

美国当地时间11月12日，Paul Atkins在费城联邦储备银行发表讲话时表示，Project Crypto将「划清界限」，以区分不同类型的加密资产。Paul Atkins将加密资产分为4类：

● 数字商品或网络代币：价值来源于功能完善且去中心化的网络，而不是来源于管理层的承诺;

● 数字收藏品：为使用或欣赏而购买的NFT和类似物品，而非为盈利而购买;

● 数字工具：提供访问权限或凭证的实用代币;

● 代币化证券：基于区块链的传统金融工具的表现形式。

Paul Atkins认为前三者并不构成证券。但将一种新的，不是证券但又很像证券的资产类别直接开放显然会造成巨大的风险。所以针对加密货币公司的「创新豁免」应运而生，其本身可能类似于一个监管沙盒，SEC可能通过一段时间的「轻监管」来探索最终落地的监管方式。

由于政府关门影响，完整的豁免规则预计会在生效时公布。目前公开信息非常有限，但笔者仍然找到了一些有关豁免条款的蛛丝马迹。

In the SEC comment letter released on April 13, 2025, references were made to the provisions in the early version of the exemption proposal. The proposal allows for exemptions for ICOs, thereby facilitating early financing for blockchain projects. A mandatory registration system will be implemented to ensure that entities under these exemptions are monitored and to prevent abuse. The SEC has also established public verification tools to increase transparency and protect investors.

Additionally, Paul Atkins mentioned in his speech on Project Crypto on November 12 that, as envisioned by current congressional legislation, he hopes the committee will consider measures to create tailored issuance systems for crypto assets that are part of investment contracts or subject to those contracts. I have asked staff to prepare recommendations that promote capital formation and adapt to innovation, while ensuring investor protection.

Clearly, the exemption measures that will take effect in January next year should be an extension of the securities laws, or at least exempting certain activities from them. Given the new SEC chair’s commitment to reducing overregulation, the new rules may not require Web3 projects to disclose too much information when issuing assets or conducting public fundraising. However, there will certainly be simple registration processes and disclosure standards.

说到披露标准，自然就想到了Coinbase前段时间在平台进行Monad代币公开销售时候所披露的信息，包括了做市商身份和做市条款。也就是说，虽然披露的信息要求可能会比较简单，但这些过去并未强制披露的关键信息在未来可能不可或缺。此外，对于代币和发行代币项目要求的降低就必然对应着发行代币平台要求的提高，这在证券法中亦有对应的标准。

如此，Coinbase通过收购Liquifi和Echo来布局资产发行和代币公开销售的原因有了一个合理的解释：作为未来代币发行的合规平台。笔者猜测，未来Web3项目若想合规的在美国进行公开募资，必须依托一个至少在KYC、反洗钱等基本问题上完善且在SEC注册的机构或平台。

目前看来，仅有的公开信息都在围绕「资产发行」维度进行讨论，SEC新规料将一定程度放宽标准，让新项目可以更方便得发行资产并进行融资，但这一切也必将建立在基本的投资者保护机制之下。不过相比于过去必须建立海外非盈利性质的基金会，新规之后的机制可能相对简单。

After the assets are issued, it’s very likely that this regulatory sandbox will be used to further explore issues related to information disclosure by the issuing entities. The good news is that in the future, we will have a clearer understanding of the actual operation of these projects. However, the bad news is that compliant asset issuance also provides a reasonable way for projects to exit the public market due to poor management. Compliance never means that the process of selecting investments becomes easier. On the contrary, embracing innovation requires investors to have higher levels of expertise.