Since 2025, the attitude of the U.S. securities regulators toward crypto assets has undergone a significant shift—from strict control to a focus on structured innovation. This transformation is reshaping the global crypto ecosystem, but its effects present a complex picture of intertwined opportunities and risks.

**Capital Flows Back to the U.S. Market**

The approval process for spot ETFs has been greatly simplified, and a 12-24 month innovation exemption policy has been introduced. This combination directly reduces compliance costs for crypto projects. Capital and projects that previously flowed out due to regulatory uncertainty are now beginning to return, with traditional financial giants like JPMorgan entering the scene. The influx of incremental funds injects new vitality into the market.

**Clearer Winners and Losers**

Once an announcement involves the security attributes of certain assets, related tokens often drop more than 12% within a week. Meanwhile, mainstream assets like LTC and SOL, which already have futures contracts and are more likely to be approved for spot ETFs, show significantly more stable trends. Conversely, smaller tokens and problematic projects that do not meet compliance standards continue to be ignored by the market. This trend of divergence is expected to intensify.

**The Era of "One Country, One Policy" in Global Regulation**

U.S. regulators adopt a flexible and adaptable approach, while Europe’s MiCA regulations follow a pre-authorization route. The collision of these two approaches has produced interesting results—transnational crypto companies now need to develop different compliance strategies for different regions. Places like Singapore and Dubai have launched more innovation-friendly policies, leading to a new pattern of "U.S.-Europe bipolarity and regional differentiated competition" in the global crypto ecosystem. Fragmented regulation issues are emerging as a consequence.

**Industry Bids Farewell to Wild Growth**

A clear token classification system and decentralized testing standards provide projects with a "compliance checklist." Platforms, DeFi protocols, and others are launching KYC upgrades and risk warning mechanisms. Standards like ERC-3643 for compliant tokens are expected to gradually become industry norms. This is a positive step toward overall industry standardization.

**Decentralization Ideals Face Practical Challenges**

But there’s a problem—compliance exemptions require projects to adopt specific technical standards and introduce investor protection measures. This means many DeFi projects have to incorporate intermediary review processes, which fundamentally conflicts with the original spirit of decentralization in cryptocurrency. Many practitioners are beginning to worry: Are we building better financial infrastructure, or are we gradually eroding the core values of this technology? $BTC