Regulation Crypto Assets Comments: Nasdaq, ICBA And HPC Letters

The SEC closed the window for Regulation Crypto Assets comments on October 20. The last two days brought letters from a stock exchange, a community bank lobby, a Hyperliquid advocacy group and a consumer watchdog. Their asks point in different directions. Read side by side, they show where the proposal is most likely to change before it becomes final.

Four rules inside Regulation Crypto Assets

The commission put out the proposal on August 18, 2026 as Release No. 33-11434. The Federal Register printed it on August 21 and lists October 20 as the close of comments.

The text sets up four rules. Rule 200 is a startup exemption for offerings up to $5 million over four years. Rule 300 allows up to $75 million in any twelve months. Rule 400 is a safe harbor that lets a crypto asset stop being treated as part of an investment contract. Rule 500 defines a qualified purchaser to override state registration rules.

The top of the SEC's public comment log for file S7-2026-27, dated October 19 and 20. Source: SEC.gov comment page.

Regulation Crypto Assets comments from the exchange and the banks

Nasdaq's letter, signed by Global Chief Legal Officer John Zecca, backs the approach. It praises formal notice-and-comment rulemaking over guidance. It also says the rules should be form-neutral, so a security is treated the same on a transfer agent's book or on a ledger.

Its warning concerns scope. A covered investment contract should not sweep in ordinary equity, debt, ETF or fund interests. The inflation indexing in the proposal should apply to every dollar threshold.

The Independent Community Bankers of America asks a different question. Its letter asks whether the wider framework pushes activity toward stablecoins and bank-funded purchases. That could move transactional balances away from community banks. The group wants a supplemental economic analysis, prepared with the federal banking agencies, covering deposits, bank funding costs and local credit.

Hyperliquid Policy Center wants the details fixed

Hyperliquid Policy Center filed on October 19, a day earlier, with Brad Bourque and Jake Chervinsky named on the letter. It generally supports the proposal and urges quick adoption. Then it lists five changes. Airdrop guidance from the SEC's March 2026 interpretation should go into the rule text itself. Secondary trading and intermediary status should be addressed directly.

The page of the Hyperliquid Policy Center letter that lists its five recommendations. Source: Hyperliquid Policy Center letter to the SEC.

The other three asks cover the safe harbor, buybacks and state preemption. The group wants the safe harbor to work without a tacit admission that a project was ever an issuer. It also wants protection while a project's managers are still working. The staff's buyback guidance should be written into the final rule. Preemption should last, rather than serve as a reward for delay.

One consumer group wants enforcement, not Regulation Crypto Assets

Public Citizen sits at the other end. Its October 20 letter says it speaks for more than one million members and supporters. It calls crypto a Ponzi scheme with no real utility. It tells the commission to resume enforcement instead of writing exemptions.

The SEC's log runs to six pages of letters, so these four are a small slice. Each one still shows what a different interest group needs from the final text. Nothing is settled until the commission votes on an adopting release. Those Regulation Crypto Assets comments do not change the rule by themselves.