Wall Street broker Bernstein said the US has taken a decisive step towards becoming the crypto capital of the world with the rollout of a comprehensive regulatory framework.
The GENIUS Act, now law, accelerated the stablecoin market and pushed US dollar-backed supply past $260 billion, the brokerage said in a Wednesday report. The upcoming CLARITY Act, expected in late 2025, will establish the first coherent market structure for digital assets, clearly dividing responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and resolving years of regulatory uncertainty, it said.
According to analysts led by Gautam Chhugani, the centerpiece of this transformation is SEC Chair Atkins’ Project Crypto, the most ambitious effort yet to merge securities markets with blockchain technology.
The initiative aims to restore innovation by classifying most crypto-assets outside of securities laws, enabling tokenized stocks and bonds and licensing brokers to handle both traditional and digital assets under a single regulatory umbrella.
It is also looking to modernize the infrastructure for onchain trading and 24/7 settlement, reducing costs across tokenized securities, stablecoins and cryptoassets, the analysts said. This clarity has lowered the sector’s risk from political turnover and unlocked new institutional participation.
Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now have $160 billion in assets, the report noted, with institutions making up about a quarter of spot ETF investors.
Bernstein said the IPO market for digital assets roared back this year, raising $4 billion since January, while the market capitalization of publicly traded crypto firms has risen from $80 billion in early 2024 to $380 billion, with Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) now part of the S&P 500 stock index.
A new, more sustainable crypto cycle is taking shape, driven by clear regulations, institutional capital and blockchain’s deeper integration into the financial system, the report added.
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