Regulatory update: Revised ETP listing standards, SEC no-action relief, Senate market structure talks

a16z crypto Regulatory Team
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Editor’s note: Our Regulatory Updates series highlights the latest regulatory, legal, and policy happenings relevant to the crypto industry, curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team.

Regulatory Update: September 9 – 30, 2025

tl;dr

  • The SEC voted to approve proposed rule changes by three national securities exchanges to adopt generic listing standards for exchange-traded products that hold spot commodities, including digital assets. Commissioners Hester M. Peirce and Caroline A. Crenshaw released statements in connection with the approval. 
  • The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a no-action letter to DoubleZero regarding Programmatic Transfers of 2Z tokens. This is the first no-action letter that the Division has issued to a crypto project since 2020. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement in connection with the letter.
  • The SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter stating that it would not recommend enforcement action against registered advisers or regulated funds for maintaining crypto assets and related cash and cash equivalents with certain state-chartered financial institutions (“State Trust Companies”). Commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw and Hester M. Peirce released statements in connection with the letter.
  • Twelve Senate Democrats released a statement in regard to crypto market structure legislation, calling on Republican colleagues to “agree to a bipartisan authorship process, as is the norm for legislation of this scale.”

Federal

🌽 Commodity Futures Trading Commission

  • The CFTC announced that it will “launch an initiative for the use of tokenized collateral including stablecoins in derivatives markets.”

🦅 Congress

  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” twelve Senate Democrats released a statement in regard to crypto market structure legislation, calling on Republican colleagues to “agree to a bipartisan authorship process, as is the norm for legislation of this scale.”
  • House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) and others wrote to SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins, expressing support for Executive Order 14330, which allows 401(k) investors to access alternative assets, and urging the SEC to take action to implement the order.
  • House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) discussed crypto policy with Politico and said that he expects the Senate to pass a crypto market structure bill this year.
  • Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi asking for responses to questions previously posed about the “Trump Administration’s efforts to ensure Binance’s compliance with its 2023 plea agreement with the federal government.”
  • Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) sent a letter to the Acting Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Commerce and others, calling for “investigations into the conflicts of interest” of the White House AI and Crypto Czar and the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East.
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a statement on crypto market structure legislation.

⚖️ Department of Justice

  • The DOJ charged two brothers in connection with a kidnapping and cryptocurrency heist where they held a family at gunpoint for nine hours and stole $8 million in cryptocurrency.
  • The CEO of a multi-level marketing and bitcoin trading firm pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 90,000 investors worldwide.
  • The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint against more than $5 million in bitcoins, which are alleged to be ill-gotten gains from multiple SIM swap attacks targeting victims across the United States.
  • The DOJ filed a civil forfeiture action to recover approximately $584,741 in cryptocurrency alleged to be the property of an Iranian national and his company San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co., which manufactures navigation modules used in the IRGC’s military drone program.
  • The U.S. Trustee Program announced that it had obtained a judgment denying a bankruptcy discharge of more than $12.5 million to a Texas man who concealed assets and lied in his bankruptcy case to evade his creditors, including investors in his cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.

💵 Department of the Treasury

  • The Treasury and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer established a Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future to enhance collaboration on capital markets, digital assets, and other innovative financial activities.
  • Digital asset exchange ShapeShift AG agreed to pay $750,000 in connection with alleged violations of multiple OFAC sanctions programs.
  • The IRS reminded tax professionals that the new form brokers use to furnish statements, including proceeds from certain digital asset transactions, will be sent to taxpayers in early 2026, and that tax professionals can take steps now to help their clients prepare.

📈 Securities and Exchange Commission

  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC voted to approve proposed rule changes by three national securities exchanges to adopt generic listing standards for exchange-traded products that hold spot commodities, including digital assets. Commissioners Hester M. Peirce and Caroline A. Crenshaw released statements in connection with the approval. 
  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance issued a no-action letter to DoubleZero regarding Programmatic Transfers of 2Z tokens. This is the first no-action letter that the Division has issued to a crypto project since 2020. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a statement in connection with the letter.
  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the SEC’s Division of Investment Management issued a no-action letter stating that it would not recommend enforcement action against registered advisers or regulated funds for maintaining crypto assets and related cash and cash equivalents with certain state-chartered financial institutions (“State Trust Companies”). Commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw and Hester M. Peirce released statements in connection with the letter.
  • The SEC approved the listing and trading of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund, which holds spot digital assets based on the CoinDesk 5 Index. The SEC also approved the listing and trading of p.m.-settled options on the Cboe Bitcoin U.S. ETF Index and the Mini-Cboe Bitcoin U.S. ETF Index with third Friday expirations, nonstandard expirations, and quarterly index expirations.
  • SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said that the agency’s priorities include providing certainty regarding the security status of crypto assets, ensuring that entrepreneurs can raise capital onchain “without endless legal uncertainty,” and allowing for “super-app” trading platform innovation that increases choice for market participants.
  • SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins told Fox Business that the agency is looking for an “innovation exemption” before the end of the year to help digital asset companies bring new products to market. Atkins also discussed crypto and other issues with Punchbowl News.
  • Commissioner Hester M. Peirce gave remarks at the Coin Center Dinner, stating, in part, that she hopes the crypto industry “will use this time — a time in which regulatory clarity has replaced ambiguity as government’s objective — to build good things that will enhance the safety, security, happiness, and prosperity of your family, friends, neighbors, and nation.”
  • The SEC and CFTC hosted a joint roundtable on regulatory harmonization efforts. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins and others provided remarks.
  • The SEC extended its deadline for addressing a rule change request by the Nasdaq exchange for staking in the iShares Ethereum Trust, and delayed its decision on proposed rule changes by Cboe to list and trade shares of the Franklin Solana ETF and the Franklin XRP ETF.

🏛️ White House

  • In his first interview as the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, Patrick Witt said that his three top priorities are the Senate’s market structure legislation, the implementation of the GENIUS Act, and setting up a federal crypto stockpile.

State

⛰️ Colorado

  • A Denver district court judge found that a Denver pastor and his wife committed securities fraud in violation of the Colorado Securities Act for a scheme in which they created, marketed, and sold a worthless cryptocurrency known as the INDXcoin.

🗽 New York

  • NYDFS released a notice encouraging all New York banking organizations that are engaged in virtual currency-related activity to consider leveraging blockchain analytics tools to enhance compliance programs and risk frameworks in a way that accommodates their risk appetites and business models.

🌳 Ohio

  • The Ohio Treasurer and the State Board of Deposit unanimously approved a vendor to facilitate the acceptance of cryptocurrency payments for state fees and services.

International

🇦🇺 Australia

  • Australia’s Securities and Investment Commission announced that it has granted class relief for intermediaries engaging in the secondary distribution of a stablecoin issued by an Australian financial services (AFS) licensed issuer.

🇨🇦 Canada

  • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police recovered an estimated sum of more than 56 million Canadian dollars from crypto exchange TradeOgre in the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Canadian history. This is also the first time that Canadian law enforcement has dismantled a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
  • The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada announced that it had imposed an administrative monetary penalty on KuCoin of C$19,552,000 on July 28, 2025 for various violations, including failure to register as a foreign money services business.

🇪🇺 European Union

  • ESMA released its Report on Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities, which includes a section on crypto assets.
  • European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen approved a new package of sanctions on Russia, which will include restrictive measures on crypto platforms and prohibit transactions in cryptocurrencies for the first time.
  • The French Autorité des Marchés Financiers, the Austrian Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde, and the Italian Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa announced four proposals “aimed at ensuring a more effective supervision of crypto-asset markets, strengthening the competitiveness of European market participants and providing better investor protection.”

🇮🇱 Israel

  • The National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing of Israel published a list of 187 cryptocurrency addresses that it says are linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The addresses have collectively received $1.5 billion in USDT over time, but the wallets currently hold $1.5 million.

🇺🇳 United Nations

  • The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund and United Nations International Computing Centre published a white paper, which “explores the transformative potential of blockchain technology as a foundational infrastructure for digital identity management.”

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