Crypto Regulation Watch: The SEC’s Comment Window Closes, France Taxes Stablecoin Swaps, and Tether Answers the Senate

Today is the last day to put comments on the record about the SEC's first standalone crypto offering framework. The two days leading up to it were just as busy: France's lower house moved to tax stablecoin conversions, Tether challenged a Senate subcommittee's sanctions findings, and the CFTC asked a court to dispose of an exchange's lawsuit without reaching the merits. Here is what each development changes.

The SEC's Crypto Rulebook Hits Its Comment Deadline

The public comment period for Regulation Crypto Assets closes today, October 20, 2026. The roughly 400-page proposal, published in the Federal Register on August 21, is the SEC's first crypto-specific notice-and-comment rulemaking.

The proposal would create a startup exemption letting early-stage projects raise up to $5 million over four years without full registration or financial statements, plus a tiered fundraising exemption permitting up to $20 million (Tier 1) or $75 million (Tier 2) in any twelve-month period for U.S.-organized issuers that meet a nexus test. It also offers an investment contract safe harbor: an issuer can file a Form TR certifying that its promised managerial efforts are complete or permanently ceased, ending the contract and the token's security status with it. A new qualified purchaser definition would preempt state registration requirements for covered offerings. Final rules are not expected before the first quarter of 2027 and could differ materially from the proposal.

France Moves to Tax Crypto-to-Stablecoin Swaps

On October 16, France's National Assembly adopted amendment I-3898 to the 2027 budget by 38 votes to 37, with 25 abstentions. The amendment removes the existing tax deferral for crypto-to-stablecoin swaps where the investor receives an e-money token as defined under the EU's MiCA framework, exposing those trades to France's 31.4% default rate on private crypto gains. It would also replace the country's portfolio-wide gains calculation with one based on the acquisition cost of the specific assets sold.

The measure would apply to transactions from January 1, 2027, but it is not law yet. Public Accounts Minister David Amiel asked for it to be withdrawn, arguing lawmakers must first define stablecoins and establish how reallocations will be traced. The finance committee's rapporteur general favored keeping the deferral given crypto's volatility. The amendment still faces the remaining stages of the budget process and could be rewritten or struck.

Tether Pushes Back on a Senate Sanctions Report

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino responded publicly on October 19 to a report issued last month by Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Democrats, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, which described USDT as a significant financial lifeline within Iran's shadow banking network. Ardoino said the subcommittee ignored the company's compliance record, claiming that since 2023 Tether has frozen flagged addresses an average of four weeks before OFAC or Israel's NBCTF formally designated them, acted ahead of Chainalysis labeling in 99% of cases, and contributed to a 94% decline in Iran-linked stablecoin volumes.

Those figures come from the company and have not been independently verified. The dispute matters beyond the news cycle because freeze responsiveness is becoming a de facto compliance expectation for centralized stablecoin issuers, and a congressional record characterizing an issuer's historical controls as inadequate tends to resurface in licensing reviews, counterparty diligence, and private litigation years later.

The CFTC Argues CME Has No Standing to Sue

The CFTC told a federal court this week that CME lacks standing to challenge the agency's perpetual futures policy, arguing the exchange has not identified a concrete injury a court could redress. The argument is procedural, not substantive. If the court agrees, the case ends with no ruling on whether the policy governing how no-expiry contracts may be listed on regulated U.S. venues is lawful, leaving that question open for the next challenger with better facts.

What This Means for You

If you run a token project, today's deadline closes the window to influence the SEC proposal on the record, but the proposal remains a planning document worth reading now. The Form TR safe harbor and the $5 million startup exemption would change how early raises are structured, and designing toward a framework that may be final in 2027 beats retrofitting later. If you hold crypto with French tax exposure, the amendment is reason to review timing and recordkeeping well before January 1, 2027.

On the compliance side, two threads converge. Sanctions screening and freeze responsiveness are no longer back-office courtesies for anyone touching stablecoins, because Congress is now grading issuers on how quickly they acted relative to designation dates. And the CME filing is a reminder that a great deal of crypto law gets decided on procedure. Standing, timing, and forum often determine outcomes before anyone reaches the merits, which is why a case's posture deserves as much attention as its headline.

At Coin Counsel, we work with individuals and businesses navigating the legal fallout of crypto fraud — whether you're a victim seeking recovery, a company facing regulatory scrutiny, or a project working to stay compliant in an increasingly complex legal landscape. The rules are evolving fast, and the cost of getting it wrong has never been higher. Contact us at coin-counsel.com to speak with a crypto-focused attorney today.

Disclaimer

This blog post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this content does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Coin Counsel or Franco Law PLLC. The legal landscape surrounding cryptocurrency is rapidly evolving and varies by jurisdiction. Do not act or refrain from acting based on information in this post without first consulting a qualified attorney. If you believe you have been the victim of crypto fraud, contact us at coin-counsel.com for a consultation.