SEC Proposes New Token Funding Rules, But Market Interest Remains Below 2018 Levels

ChainCatcher report, according to Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s new proposal on crypto asset financing this month seeks to revive the ICO funding model. The proposal would allow startups to raise up to $5 million over four years and large projects up to $75 million annually without full SEC registration. But the market environment has fundamentally changed: In January 2018, monthly ICO funding reached $3 billion; today, VC token trading volumes have sharply declined, and speculative capital has shifted toward perpetual contracts, prediction markets, and AI stocks. Tom Schmidt, partner at Dragonfly, said: “Better than nothing, but it would have been more useful a few years ago.” Cosmo Jiang, partner at Pantera Capital, noted: “Previously, meme coins were legal while tokens with real utility were illegal—this is the exact opposite of how a capitalist society should function.” Analysts argue: “An ICO in 2026 is not an ICO in 2018—the era when a whitepaper and a dream could attract capital is over.”