The SEC’s “Project Crypto” has just thrown down the gauntlet for Wall Street’s digital future, unveiling the most transformative overhaul of U.S. securities rules in a generation to let digital assets flourish. Under Chairman Atkins’ bold vision, the mission is clear: tear up the old rulebook that boxed out crypto and make tokenization the beating heart of American innovation.

“Our regulatory framework need not be anchored to an analog past—unkind to new frontiers. The future is arriving at full speed, and the world is not waiting. It is a moment that demands American ambition, and instead of just keeping pace, the U.S. should drive it with a project that can unleash it—Project Crypto,” Atkins declared, according to a Bernstein research note that breaks down the most impactful aspects of Project Crypto.

Bringing Crypto Innovation Home: Reshoring and Rewriting the Rules

Ending the era of crypto exile—the consequence of regulatory overreach during the Gensler years—starts with bringing innovation back to America. The SEC intends to use its interpretative and exemptive powers to ensure that outdated laws don’t strangle homegrown entrepreneurship.

The 1933 Securities Act, once wielded as a blunt legal tool over most digital assets, will no longer have such control, Atkins said. The SEC is determined to prevent “archaic securities rules” from suffocating domestic innovation.

“Despite what the SEC has said in the past, most Crypto assets are not securities,” Atkins added. The new framework aims to create clear categories-digital commodities, stablecoins, and digital collectibles- so projects can thrive.

The Commission will set transparent guidelines defining what constitutes a security in digital assets. U.S. firms will be empowered with clarity to tokenize their stocks and bonds. Atkins hopes these initiatives, coupled with cutting red tape, will help the U.S. build the world’s largest on-chain securities marketplace.

The Super App Model: One License to Rule Them All

In a major regulatory shakeup, the SEC plans to drop the old patchwork of multi-state licenses.

Under “Reg-Super App,” broker-dealers will be empowered to offer a broad range of products and services including crypto assets, traditional securities, stablecoins, staking, lending, and more all under one roof, with a single federal license. Some have likened the idea to Wall Street’s own digital supermarket, designed for speed and scale.

Unleashing On-Chain Software, Competition

Project Crypto also envisions embracing on-chain software—decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and more. he SEC aims to facilitate trading of tokenized securities on the blockchain, enabling 24/7 instant settlement, lower costs, and freer competition between incumbents and fintech challengers.This allows trading platforms like Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) and Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) to add traditional and tokenized securities, or Circle (NYSE:CRCL)’s stablecoins to power cross-collateralized products for both retail and institutional clients

“It is time to upgrade the financial system from online to on-chain,” Atkins says—a fundamental reset for American capital markets.

This new vision, perhaps the most transformative crypto vision ever laid out by a sitting SEC chair in capital markets history, according to Bernstein, acknowledges the future is arriving fast. Avoiding being left behind requires rolling out the red carpet for innovators, collapsing regulatory moats, and letting on-chain technology reshape market infrastructure.

For crypto startups and Wall Street giants the message is clear: the era of shoving crypto into the capital markets shadows via archaic regulatory is over. The next battle for financial dominance will be fought block by block across American digital soil.