Policy Shift Redefines Crypto Landscape: Which Assets Stand to Gain Most from US Regulatory Framework?

The past six weeks have marked a decisive turning point for the cryptocurrency industry in America. What was unthinkable a year ago—government support rather than suppression—is now materializing through a cascade of legislative actions and executive initiatives. Between July and early August 2025, the regulatory environment shifted with remarkable speed, fundamentally altering the operational landscape for digital assets.

The Policy Framework: Bills, Orders, and Strategic Statements

From July 18 through August 7, American policymakers crystallized a comprehensive regulatory blueprint through four policy statements, three major legislative bills, and two executive orders. This coordinated effort represents the most substantive regulatory clarity the sector has ever received at the federal level.

The stablecoin legislation, signed on July 18, established binding requirements: digital dollar proxies must maintain 100% backing in liquid reserves like Treasury instruments, with mandatory monthly reporting. Issuers face licensing requirements at both federal and state levels, while holders receive bankruptcy priority protections. Critically, the framework explicitly categorizes stablecoins outside the securities classification, granting them quasi-commodity status.

Simultaneously, the House advanced the CLARITY Act on July 17, creating clear jurisdictional boundaries. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gains authority over genuine digital commodities, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) maintains oversight of restricted digital assets. Projects can transition through temporary registration once their networks mature, offering legal protection for developers and validators in sufficiently decentralized systems.

A companion measure, the Anti-CBDC legislation, prohibited the Federal Reserve from issuing central bank digital currency to the public, cementing the policy preference for private-sector stablecoins over government-controlled alternatives.

The SEC’s approval of physical redemption for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs on July 29 functionally treated these assets identically to commodities like gold, signaling their commodity classification. The 166-page PWG report from the White House on July 30 articulated a comprehensive vision: establish clear asset classification frameworks, authorize the CFTC to regulate spot markets, enable banking-sector participation in stablecoin custody, and implement regulatory sandboxes and exemptions.

Between July 31 and August 5, both the SEC’s “Project Crypto” initiative and the CFTC’s “Crypto Sprint” program formally launched, with SEC official Atkins and CFTC leadership announcing coordinated modernization efforts. A critical component involves licensing frameworks for Digital Commodity Markets (DCM) that would allow compliant exchanges to operate under unified registration.

The SEC’s August 5 statement on liquid staking Receipt tokens proved particularly consequential: these instruments do not constitute securities provided the underlying asset itself is not a security. This single clarification unlocked enormous potential for the staking ecosystem.

Two executive orders followed: one targeting discriminatory banking practices against crypto firms, threatening penalties for financial institutions that sever relationships for regulatory reasons, and another permitting 401(k) pension funds to allocate capital into alternative assets including cryptocurrencies—a potential gateway to the $12.5 trillion pension market.

The Dollar-Stablecoin Nexus: Global Finance’s New Infrastructure

Understanding why stablecoins received such explicit regulatory endorsement requires examining their unique position in global finance. Dollar-pegged assets function as liquid, frictionless wrappers around short-term US Treasury instruments, addressing two simultaneous challenges: maintaining dollar transaction dominance while ensuring persistent demand for Treasury debt.

As of mid-2025, the US Treasury bond market reaches approximately $28.8 trillion in outstanding securities, with foreigners holding roughly $9 trillion. This unmatched depth and liquidity makes US Treasuries the institutional portfolio foundation globally. Central banks worldwide maintain approximately 58% of their official reserves in dollar assets, predominantly Treasury holdings.

This structural advantage has become increasingly critical as the BRICS coalition (now including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Iran, and Ethiopia) approaches approximate GDP parity with the United States. Stablecoins directly counter de-dollarization pressures by making dollar-denominated assets globally accessible through blockchain infrastructure. Tether’s Treasury holdings now exceed those of major nations, while stablecoin adoption has captured 15-30% of traditional dollar development over five-year periods.

Dollar-denominated stablecoins including USDC and USDT provide stable trading pairs while remaining backed by the identical deposit and Treasury instruments that traditional institutions rely upon. This creates seamless onramps for capital migration from legacy finance into blockchain infrastructure.

Real World Assets: The $16 Trillion Opportunity

Tokenization fundamentally restructures capital markets mechanics. Where traditional securities settlement requires days and complex intermediation, blockchain-based settlements execute immediately. Where conventional assets remain geographically fragmented across regulatory jurisdictions, tokenized versions achieve global liquidity pools.

Two distinct approaches are emerging for Treasury-based crypto products. “Yield stablecoins” such as Ondo’s USDY accumulate returns through sophisticated mechanisms, creating principal appreciation over time. Alternatively, base tokens like BlackRock’s BUIDL maintain dollar parity through pre-defined token distributions. Both models permit crypto investors to access stable 4-5% annual yields with minimal risk—providing DeFi alternatives to high-risk protocol farming.

The Boston Consulting Group projects 10% of global GDP (approximately $16 trillion) could be tokenized by 2030, while Standard Chartered estimates tokenized assets reaching $30 trillion by 2034. Current on-chain RWA markets approximate $5 billion, representing merely 0.1% of ultimate potential.

Private credit dominates current RWA composition at $14 billion, reflecting cryptocurrency’s structural limitation: the absence of sophisticated credit scoring infrastructure comparable to traditional finance. Figure Technologies emerged as the dominant private credit platform, managing $11 billion in tokenized loans through its Provenance blockchain ecosystem—representing 75% of the entire sector.

The 401(k) executive order creates profound indirect benefits for on-chain credit. A mere 2% allocation to Bitcoin and Ethereum would equal 1.5 times all cumulative ETF inflows to date. Pension funds targeting stable, institutional-grade returns may increasingly favor tokenized real estate debt, small business credit, and private credit pools when appropriately structured for compliance. These institutional capital flows would fundamentally reshape on-chain lending economics.

On-Chain Equity Markets: Democratizing US Stock Access

The previous limitation constraining traditional US equities—a 6.5-hour trading window available only to geographically privileged participants—is being systematically dismantled. Tokenized US stocks enable global 24/7 participation in a $50-55 trillion market, currently trading merely 5-6.5 hours daily.

Three tokenization models have emerged: third-party compliant issuance with multi-platform distribution, licensed brokers conducting self-issuance within closed-loop on-chain systems, and contract-for-difference structures. Early projects include tokenized pre-IPO instruments, dual-track brokerage models, and futures-based mechanisms.

The practical barriers to scaling remain substantial. Market fragmentation between traditional brokerage accounts and crypto holdings creates friction—international users face multiple percentage-point costs when converting stablecoins through licensed exchanges, while leveraged products through traditional brokers cap exposure at 2.5x compared to potential 9x leverage available on-chain through high loan-to-value structures.

The addressable use cases segment clearly: beginner investors in countries with strict capital controls (China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Nigeria) possess stablecoins but cannot access international brokerages; professional traders possess overseas accounts but seek leverage conventional brokers refuse to provide; high-net-worth individuals holding US equities can access on-chain lending, dividends, and derivative strategies unavailable in traditional accounts.

Current on-chain equity market capitalization remains below $400 million with monthly trading volumes near $300 million—a minuscule fraction of the underlying opportunity. As regulatory clarity permits institutional participation and liquidity pools deepen, this nascent sector could experience exponential scaling.

Staking Legitimacy: Unlocking DeFi’s Recursive Yield Structures

The SEC’s August 2025 declaration that liquid staking receipt tokens do not constitute securities fundamentally altered the DeFi landscape. Previously, regulators maintained adversarial stances toward staking products, forcing exchange delistings and creating existential uncertainty regarding whether Lido’s stETH and Rocket Pool’s rETH represented unregistered securities.

This policy reversal has activated an intricate ecosystem of staking-derived protocols. Approximately 14.4 million ETH now locks into liquid staking arrangements, with liquid staking token total value locked surging from $20 billion in April 2025 to $61 billion by August—returning to historical peaks.

The most sophisticated implementations layer multiple protocols into recursive yield structures. Ethena provides leveraged exposure to sUSDe rates while maintaining position liquidity. Pendle fragments yield assets into principal (PT) and yield (YT) components, creating dedicated markets where conservative investors secure fixed returns through PT while speculative participants purchase YT for amplified yield exposure. PT then serves as collateral across platforms like Aave and Morpho, building foundational yield infrastructure.

These interconnected protocols effectively multiply TVL across the ecosystem. A $1 deposit can create $30 in cumulative TVL across Ethena, Pendle, and Aave through sophisticated borrowing strategies—where users mint derivative tokens, deposit, borrow stablecoins, and repeat the cycle. Institutional participation through platforms like JPMorgan’s Kinexys alongside traditional firms including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Cantor Fitzgerald indicates sophisticated capital recognizing the structural advantages of regulated DeFi credit markets.

Public Chains and Commodity Status: Emerging Winners

The CLARITY Act establishes criteria for “mature blockchain systems”—fundamentally decentralized networks meeting objective standards—to transition from securities classification toward commodity status under CFTC jurisdiction. This distinction carries profound implications for projects and their native tokens.

US-domiciled public chains including Solana, Base, Sui, and Sei align structurally with these emerging regulatory pathways. VanEck’s application for a Solana spot ETF, explicitly characterizing SOL’s functionality as commodity-adjacent to Bitcoin and Ethereum, signals institutional recognition of this shifting classification. Coinbase’s CFTC-regulated Solana futures contracts in February 2025 furthered this legitimization, creating pathways toward potential spot ETF approvals.

Ethereum, the network executing the overwhelming majority of stablecoin and DeFi transactions globally, has similarly benefited from this policy environment. The SEC’s explicit statement that liquid staking receipts referencing non-security assets do not themselves constitute securities effectively confirms Ethereum’s non-security status. Combined with prior Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETF approval, the regulatory framework now treats these platforms as commodities with institutional legitimacy.

As “US public chains” compete to achieve native compliance, Ethereum’s established position as the settlement layer for decentralized finance remains strategically advantageous. The convergence of regulatory endorsement with network effects and developer concentration ensures Ethereum’s continued dominance in infrastructure for on-chain Treasury instruments, tokenized stocks, and real estate securities.

The Sustainability Question: Policy Clarity Versus Operational Reality

While the policy framework represents unprecedented regulatory alignment, historical experience suggests that regulatory friendliness does not guarantee unlimited openness. The testing phase standards, compliance thresholds, and enforcement details will directly determine which sectors and projects survive implementation.

Every emerging track—RWA tokenization, on-chain credit, staking derivatives, US equity tokenization, and DeFi primitives—occupies legitimate regulatory space within the new framework. However, their ultimate success depends upon maintaining crypto’s inherent efficiency and innovation properties while satisfying compliance requirements. This balance between decentralization and institutional integration remains fundamentally unresolved.

The policy environment has shifted decisively, but execution risks persist. How the cryptocurrency industry navigates these regulatory opportunities while preserving the technical and financial innovations that created value may ultimately determine whether this represents a genuine policy-driven bull market or merely a temporary regulatory pause before renewed tensions emerge between innovation velocity and compliance boundaries.