Hyperliquid Policy Center, AIMA Push SEC to Rework $75M Token Rule

The public comment period on the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets closed on Tuesday, 20 October. Two of the filings pull in different directions. The Hyperliquid Policy Center wants tokens sold under the rule to trade the moment they are issued. AIMA, the hedge fund industry group, wants protection for investment funds that hold and resell them.

For a holder, the trading point is the one to watch. If the final rule leaves secondary trading unclear, tokens raised under its exemptions could launch without a clear legal route onto exchanges. Nothing changes yet. This is still a proposal, and the SEC has not adopted a final rule.

What the SEC Proposed in August

The SEC issued the proposal on 18 August, and it was published in the Federal Register on 21 August under file S7-2026-27. Our earlier report covered the opening of the comment window.

The SEC's announcement describes two exemptions for crypto offerings:

• A one-time exemption for raises of up to $5 million over a four-year period.
• A second exemption for up to $75 million in each 12-month period. Issuers using it would have to provide financial statements and face ongoing reporting.

The proposal also offers a conditional safe harbor from "investment contract" status. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said it would apply "once an issuer has completed or permanently ceased all essential managerial efforts that it represented or promised it would take under an investment contract."

It would also preempt state securities registration for exempt offerings "as well as certain secondary market transactions." The proposal follows the SEC's March 2026 interpretation of how securities laws apply to certain crypto assets.

Hyperliquid Policy Center Backs It, With Five Fixes

The Hyperliquid Policy Center's letter opens in support: "We generally support the Proposal and urge its prompt adoption." It then adds a warning that "several features of the Proposal, as drafted, will not deliver the certainty the Commission intends."

The group asks for five changes. The ones that matter most to holders are:

• Immediate trading. The SEC should address secondary transactions directly, "so that assets distributed in reliance on the exemptions can trade immediately and outside the registrant framework."
• Airdrops. The SEC's analysis of airdrops should go into the final rule text.
• A safe harbor with no confession. Projects should be able to use the safe harbor "without a tacit admission of prior investment-contract or issuer status," and while managerial work is still ongoing.
• Buybacks. The Division of Corporation Finance's recent token buyback guidance should be folded into the rule, which should also "distinguish programmatic from discretionary buybacks."

The letter also asks that the preemption of state rules be made durable.

The admission point is a real worry for founders. As the proposal is drafted, a project that claims the safe harbor could look like it is conceding that its token was a security before.

AIMA Wants Room for Funds

The Alternative Investment Management Association filed its letter on 20 October under the name of chief executive Jiří Król. It supports a proportionate framework but asks the SEC to:

• "Extend Rule 400 to the Advisers Act and Investment Company Act and coordinate custody requirements."
• Create a resale safe harbor for bona fide investment funds.
• "Set the fundraising ceiling using project financing needs and compliance costs, and streamline repeat disclosures."

That last request takes aim at the fixed $75 million cap, though the letter's opening sections do not name a different figure.

Nasdaq and Banks Filed on the Last Day

The SEC docket lists several final-day filers, including:

• Nasdaq
• the Independent Community Bankers of America
• Public Citizen
• the Center for Audit Quality
• Global Digital Finance
• Pretty Good Policy for Zcash

What those groups argued is not covered here.

The securities industry group SIFMA is reported to have filed a letter seeking revisions. That letter has not been confirmed on the docket.

The next step belongs to the SEC. It now has to weigh the letters before deciding whether to adopt the rule, and in what form. For anyone holding a token that might launch under these exemptions, the key question is whether the final text lets that token trade on day one.