The U.S. is coming into what will be the most favorable coverage setting for crypto because the business emerged, as President Donald Trump’s second time period accelerates deregulation throughout monetary markets and pulls digital property nearer to the middle of the U.S. monetary system, based on a brand new outlook from TD Cowen’s Washington Analysis Group.
The report, shared with Bitcoin Journal, characterizes 2026 as a uncommon convergence of aligned regulators, political will, and market momentum, creating a brief window wherein crypto companies might safe lasting coverage positive factors.
These positive factors, nevertheless, will not be assured to endure. TD Cowen repeatedly warned in its report that many initiatives may very well be revised or reversed by a future Democratic administration if they don’t seem to be finalized, carried out, and legally defended earlier than the following presidential transition in 2029.
Slightly than sweeping crypto laws, the agency expects change to reach by way of exemptions, company steering, new charters, and focused market-structure changes. The result’s a regulatory technique that emphasizes velocity and sturdiness over ambition.
TD Cowen describes the broader setting as a “golden age of deregulation” for monetary providers, housing, and crypto.
The report says Trump has moved quicker than prior presidents to say management over monetary regulators, putting in management groups explicitly dedicated to lighter, extra tailor-made oversight and a extra permissive stance towards digital property and tokenization.
The White Home, Treasury Division, and market regulators are described as unusually aligned on the view that regulation ought to accommodate innovation slightly than constrain it.
Timing is crucial for any crypto progress
That alignment underpins lots of the crypto initiatives anticipated to unfold in 2026, however TD Cowen cautions that timing is crucial. Guidelines should be finalized this yr to resist courtroom challenges and change into tougher to unwind if political management shifts after the 2028 election.
On the Securities and Trade Fee, the report says Chair Paul Atkins is getting ready to make use of exemptive aid to increase crypto-related exercise inside U.S. securities markets. The SEC is anticipated to concern so-called “innovation exemptions” as early as the primary quarter of 2026, permitting brokerages and crypto platforms to supply tokenized shares and bonds that settle immediately and function exterior sure components of the Nationwide Market System.
TD Cowen expects early tokenized fairness buying and selling to deal with retail buyers and profit on-line brokerages and crypto-native exchanges.
The SEC is more likely to loosen best-price obligations for these merchandise whereas leaving the core Order Safety Rule intact for conventional markets.
The agency assigns the initiative a average sustainability score, suggesting a future Democratic SEC would layer on investor protections slightly than dismantle tokenization altogether.
The SEC can also be anticipated to make clear how staking-as-a-service applications are handled underneath securities regulation. Fastened-return staking merchandise would doubtless be labeled as securities, whereas variable, profit-sharing preparations may very well be handled as fee-for-service actions.
TD Cowen sees rising bipartisan settlement that staking requires a clearer framework, even when the main points stay contested.
On the banking aspect, regulators have begun opening the perimeter to crypto companies whereas sustaining formal limits on deposit-taking and lending.
In December 2025, the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex granted nationwide belief charters to a number of crypto companies, together with Circle, Ripple, and Paxos, permitting them to carry stablecoin reserves underneath a single federal regime as an alternative of navigating state-by-state oversight.
TD Cowen argues these charters deepen the mixing between conventional banking and digital property and will finally pave the way in which for banks to concern and handle stablecoins themselves.
Whereas Democrats might tighten supervision in the event that they regain energy, the agency views outright revocation as unlikely.
The Federal Reserve can also be shifting to accommodate crypto-linked funds exercise. The report highlights a proposal for “Fee Grasp Accounts” that might grant eligible crypto and funds companies restricted, non-interest-bearing entry to the Fed’s cost rails.
These accounts would course of transactions with out offering overdrafts or discount-window entry. TD Cowen sees the transfer as sturdy as soon as carried out, regardless of issues from banks about elevated competitors.
The CLARITY act is a centerpiece for crypto progress
On Capitol Hill, the centerpiece of the crypto agenda is a proposed market-structure invoice often called the CLARITY Act. TD Cowen stays skeptical that Congress will ship a second main legislative win after passing stablecoin laws, but it surely says a slender compromise stays doable on investor safety, custody requirements, and anti–cash laundering guidelines.
The biggest impediment is Democratic insistence on ethics provisions barring senior authorities officers and their households from proudly owning crypto exchanges, issuing tokens, or working stablecoins — language geared toward Trump’s ties to World Liberty Monetary.
TD Cowen warns there isn’t a simple compromise on this concern, elevating the danger that market-structure laws slips into 2027 or collapses altogether.
Past buying and selling and regulation, the report factors to rising curiosity in tokenizing real-world information, together with property deeds, mortgage documentation, and medical information. These initiatives are framed as effectivity upgrades slightly than deregulatory flashpoints, making them extra politically sturdy.
