SEC Proposes First Crypto-Specific Rules, Potential Legal Path for Token Issuance

This is the first time the SEC has drafted a rulebook around crypto issuance rather than enforcement, and the proposed exit mechanism is the genuinely novel part: it implies investment contract status can be shed, which existing tokens have never had a clear route to do. The four-stage structure matters most for projects that already sold tokens under ambiguity, since it offers a possible path to compliance rather than retroactive liability. Whether the proposal survives comment and whether the exit stage is workable in practice are the open questions.