The U.S. is getting into what will be the most favorable coverage atmosphere for crypto for the reason that business emerged, as President Donald Trump’s second time period accelerates deregulation throughout monetary markets and pulls digital belongings 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 corporations may safe lasting coverage positive aspects.
These positive aspects, nevertheless, are usually not assured to endure. TD Cowen repeatedly warned in its report that many initiatives could possibly be revised or reversed by a future Democratic administration if they aren’t finalized, carried out, and legally defended earlier than the following presidential transition in 2029.
Moderately than sweeping crypto laws, the agency expects change to reach by exemptions, company steering, new charters, and targeted market-structure adjustments. The result’s a regulatory technique that emphasizes pace and sturdiness over ambition.
TD Cowen describes the broader atmosphere 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 belongings and tokenization.
The White Home, Treasury Division, and market regulators are described as unusually aligned on the view that regulation ought to accommodate innovation quite than constrain it.
Timing is vital for any crypto progress
That alignment underpins lots of the crypto initiatives anticipated to unfold in 2026, however TD Cowen cautions that timing is vital. Guidelines have to be finalized this 12 months to resist court docket challenges and turn into more durable to unwind if political management shifts after the 2028 election.
On the Securities and Alternate Fee, the report says Chair Paul Atkins is preparing to make use of exemptive reduction to broaden crypto-related activity inside U.S. securities markets. The SEC is anticipated to difficulty 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 parts of the Nationwide Market System.
TD Cowen expects early tokenized fairness buying and selling to deal with retail investors and profit on-line brokerages and crypto-native exchanges.
The SEC is prone 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 reasonable sustainability ranking, suggesting a future Democratic SEC would layer on investor protections quite than dismantle tokenization altogether.
The SEC can also be expected to make clear how staking-as-a-service applications are handled beneath securities legislation. Mounted-return staking merchandise would doubtless be labeled as securities, whereas variable, profit-sharing preparations could possibly be handled as fee-for-service actions.
TD Cowen sees rising bipartisan settlement that staking requires a clearer framework, even when the small print stay contested.
On the banking aspect, regulators have begun opening the perimeter to crypto corporations whereas sustaining formal limits on deposit-taking and lending.
In December 2025, the Workplace of the Comptroller of the Foreign money granted nationwide belief charters to a number of crypto corporations, together with Circle, Ripple, and Paxos, permitting them to carry stablecoin reserves beneath a single federal regime as an alternative of navigating state-by-state oversight.
TD Cowen argues these charters deepen the combination between conventional banking and digital belongings and will finally pave the way in which for banks to difficulty and handle stablecoins themselves.
Whereas Democrats may 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 “Cost Grasp Accounts” that would grant eligible crypto and payments firms limited, non-interest-bearing entry to the Fed’s fee 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 bill referred to as the CLARITY Act. TD Cowen stays skeptical that Congress will ship a second main legislative win after passing stablecoin laws, however it says a slender compromise stays attainable on investor safety, custody requirements, and anti–cash laundering guidelines.
The most important 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 aimed at Trump’s ties to World Liberty Monetary.
TD Cowen warns there is no such thing as a straightforward compromise on this difficulty, elevating the danger that market-structure laws slips into 2027 or collapses altogether.
Past buying and selling and regulation, the report factors to growing interest in tokenizing real-world data, together with property deeds, mortgage documentation, and medical information. These initiatives are framed as effectivity upgrades quite than deregulatory flashpoints, making them extra politically sturdy.
