With 2025 nearly halfway through, the cryptocurrency market has been greatly influenced by political factors over the past six months, particularly events related to Trump, which have become the main driving force behind market fluctuations. After Trump was elected, a series of policy adjustments by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became particularly noteworthy, from Gary Gensler's departure to recent statements regarding Decentralized Finance. The interaction between the SEC and the cryptocurrency industry has been frequent and significant.

The most significant change is that the SEC is no longer taking an adversarial stance. The commission has withdrawn its legal actions against large institutions like Coinbase and Consensys, and even terminated its investigation into Uniswap. This shift has alleviated compliance pressures for the industry, reducing legal risks and settlement costs.

Another important development is the SEC's repeal of the SAB 121 rule, which previously limited banks' participation in the custody of encryption assets. Financial institutions can now directly offer cryptocurrency custody services, paving the way for the integration of traditional finance and the encryption world.

In terms of structural reforms, the SEC has established a dedicated "encryption special working group" and adopted a strategy of formulating rules before enforcing them. The committee is also actively communicating with industry experts and organizing discussions to widely gather opinions, demonstrating a more open and inclusive attitude.

Recently, the SEC made two significant decisions: first, it excluded three types of staking activities from the definition of securities, establishing a regulatory foundation for future ETF spot staking; second, it accelerated the ETF approval process, and the Solana spot ETF is expected to be approved soon.

Looking ahead to the second half of 2025, the SEC may continue to promote industry development in the following areas:

First, more mainstream cryptocurrency ETFs are expected to be approved, with the SOL ETF likely to lead, and other altcoin ETFs also having opportunities. At the same time, the staking function of cryptocurrency ETFs based on the Proof of Stake ( PoS ) mechanism will also be approved. The staking function of the SOL ETF may be launched simultaneously with the spot ETF, and the same applies to the ETH ETF; regulatory barriers have been eliminated, and approval is just a matter of time.

Secondly, the tokenization of real-world assets ( RWA ) will receive policy support. SEC commissioners have publicly stated that tokenization is the future trend and have organized relevant seminars to support the reshaping of the financial system on the blockchain.

Third, the securities trading infrastructure may welcome innovation. Traditional stock exchanges may be allowed to simultaneously offer both securities and encryption trading services, such as trading stocks and stablecoins. Crypto exchanges may also be permitted to trade traditional financial products like stocks.

The role of the SEC is shifting from a strict "enforcer" to a constructive "rule maker." This fundamental change will guide the encryption industry into a more regulated development phase, eliminating non-compliant projects, establishing a new order, and making the direction of industry development clearer and more defined.