Key dates for US crypto regulation in 2026 — ‘We are closer than ever’

This past year saw a US crypto policy revolution.

Less than a year into his second term, President Donald Trump has installed industry-friendly regulators who dropped investigations into crypto companies, made it easier for banks to hold crypto and for asset managers to issue crypto-focused exchange-traded funds.

At Trump’s urging, lawmakers passed landmark stablecoin legislation and made serious progress on market structure legislation.

With these victories in the rearview mirror, it’s fair to wonder whether 2026 will be an eventful year in crypto policy.

The short answer: yes.

So, without further ado, here are some key dates for US crypto policy in 2026.

January

January is set to become an action-packed month.

For starters, White House crypto adviser David Sacks has said that the Senate is expected to hold hearings about the market structure bill in the first month of the year.

“We are closer than ever to passing the landmark crypto market structure legislation that President Trump has called for,” Sacks wrote on X in December. “We look forward to finishing the job in January!”

Those hearings are expected to unclog the bill in the Senate, where it has stalled since a version called the Clarity Act cleared the House of Representatives in July.

Once expected to pass in 2025, market structure legislation could transform the US crypto industry.

It would end a regulatory turf war between the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Both agencies attempted to claim jurisdiction over crypto markets during the Biden administration.

“If market structure legislation is enacted in early 2026, the focus will shift to implementation,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger told DL News.

“We want to ensure we have clear, workable rules from the SEC and CFTC, continued interagency coordination, and targeted fixes like tax clarity, to ensure the United States remains a thriving capital for crypto innovation.”

That isn’t the only development expected in January.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins wants to create an “innovation exemption” to let entrepreneurs “immediately enter the market with new technologies and business models” without having to comply with “incompatible or burdensome” regulations, so long as they meet certain conditions.

On December 2, Atkins said to expect this innovation exemption within a month. That means it could come any day.

May 15

Jerome Powell’s term as chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors ends on May 15. Trump has attacked Powell over his refusal to cut interest rates more aggressively.

The president will likely name a more pliable successor.

The central bank sets US monetary policy. High interest rates make it more expensive to borrow, which puts a damper on high-risk assets, such as cryptocurrency.

A more dovish approach to monetary policy could fuel a crypto rally — but it could also rekindle inflation, one of the issues that fuelled Trump’s return to the White House.

With “affordability” the new buzzword in American politics, Trump’s pick for Fed chair won’t just impact crypto prices in 2026, but it could also impact the race for the presidency in 2028.

Long-time Trump ally Kevin Hassett is currently seen as the frontrunner to be tapped for the job, with Polymarket bettors giving him a 47% chance of being nominated.

July 1

New crypto regulations take effect in California on July 1, 2026.

The state’s Digital Financial Assets Law requires anyone that engages in “digital financial asset business activity” with a California resident to obtain a license from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, with certain exemptions.

The state is home to many crypto entrepreneurs, and what happens in California has an outsize impact on US tech writ large.

July 18

Passing a bill gets all the headlines, but the real battle begins when regulators tasked with enacting laws begin to parse the new legislation.

The Genius Act directs federal and state regulators to issue additional regulations concerning issuer licensing, capital requirements, custody standards, anti-money laundering provisions, and much, much more.

Those additional regulations are due on July 18, 2026.

“There will be meaningful opportunities for market participants to participate in advocacy efforts and the rulemaking process,” lawyers for Gibson Dunn wrote in July.

The process has already become contentious. Banks are demanding that regulators close a “loophole” that allows stablecoin issuers to offer yield, a feature the banks fear will undermine their deposit base. The crypto industry is fighting back.

These proposals risk undermining “a carefully negotiated compromise, reduce consumer choice, suppress competition, and inject uncertainty into the implementation of a new law,” the Blockchain Association said in a letter addressed to Senators last week.

August

There are two developments we can expect by the end of August: the filing of crypto tax legislation and the finalisation of CFTC regulations concerning the use of blockchain technology in capital markets.

“Beyond market structure, crypto tax policy remains a top priority,” Mersinger said, highlighting Representative Mike Carey’s recent work with the Treasury Department to fix tax issues related to crypto staking.

On December 20, Representative Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio, filed a draft bill called the Parity Act. It seeks to establish a de minimus exemption for stablecoins.

What that does is that spending $5 on a latte, for example, doesn’t trigger a taxable event. It also seeks to prevent crypto lending from being treated as taxable selling. And plenty more.

During an appearance at the Blockchain Association’s December policy summit, Miller said he believes Congress can pass a version of his bill “by hopefully next August.”

In August 2025, then-CFTC Chair Caroline Pham announced a 12-month “crypto sprint” focused on spot crypto trading, allowing the use of tokenised collateral in derivatives markets, and tweaking regulations to enable the use of blockchain technology in US markets.

Pham has already made progress on the first two items, and she envisioned that final item being completed by August 2026.

November 3

The US will hold midterm elections on November 3, and they have the potential to flip the outlook for US crypto policy.

The president is powerful, but he’s no king — the industry’s victories in 2025 have largely come down to the fact that Republicans have narrowly controlled both houses of Congress.

Should that change in 2026, it could put an end to crypto’s golden age in Washington, DC.

Democrats have certainly warmed to crypto. Market structure legislation in the House passed with more Democrat votes in 2025 than it did in 2024, a shift that warmed the hearts of many a crypto lobbyist earlier this year.

But a majority of Democrats are still wary of the libertarian-leaning industry.

If Democrats take control of one or both houses of Congress, the odds of passing any crypto legislation will drop significantly.

Fireblocks Policy Director Sea Markova recently said market structure legislation was “at risk altogether if its passing cuts too close to the midterm elections.”

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can contact him at aleks@dlnews.com.