Alex and Emily break down the 402-page SEC rules-proposal guidance document that Paul Atkins' SEC dropped today — a direct response to the fundraising side of what should've been in the Clarity Act but got carved out. The headline: a new startup exemption of $5M raised over 4 years with no accredited/non-accredited distinction, and broad expansions to Reg D, Reg CF, and Reg A. Currently in a 60-day comment period post-Federal Register publication.
What's IN the proposal: new $5M/4-year exemption removing the accredited investor gatekeeping wall; expanded Reg A tiers; unrestricted security concept that transcends issuer-to-exchange (a Clarity carry-in that means an exchange doesn't get in trouble for listing a security later found to be improperly issued); broad state blue-sky preemption for both primary sales and resales as long as issuer stays current on disclosure. What's NOT in it: broker-dealer definition and the Hester Peirce exchange relief. That absence is notable.
The political throughline: this is guidance the agency dropped instead of waiting on Congress — the model Alex wants replicated across other stalled-out federal agencies. SEC commissioner bench discussion: Peirce leaving in November, which leaves Atkins + Uyeda holding down the crypto-friendly seats. Long tangent on single-issue bills (Gates/AOC co-sponsored one, died on the floor) and why 600-page omnibus bills exist — you can hide anything in them, no one reads them, and it's how lobbying money gets made.
The Moonpay/Keith Grossman tweet that broke Emily's brain: "crypto shouldn't be politicized." Emily and Alex both come apart at the philosophical seams — money has never in history been non-political, currency outside state borders is inherently adversarial to the state that regulates it, and manufactured consent is the mechanism, not the thing itself. The FOMO trenches report gets a callback: <100 wallets of ~200K+ surveyed made more than $100. "That's revitalizing crypto?" Book of the month transitions from The Unbanking of America to The Meme Machine, next book club Sept 1.
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