Crypto’s Wild West used to have a cowboy problem. For much of the sector’s nascent history there were too many gunslingers and not enough sheriffs, with the digital asset space defined by its rule avoidance and a culture that prized speed over safety.
But after years of rug pulls, bankruptcies and busted idols, the cryptocurrency industry is learning that lawlessness is more a liability than it is a pre-requisite for innovation. What is happening now looks very different from the on-chain ecosystem of the 2010s, when bitcoin first launched. Since the start of 2026, a sequence of tightly scoped but consequential actions by U.S. regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Depository Trust & Clearing…
