SEC's 2027 Exam Priorities Don't Mention Crypto Once, Two Years After It Had Its Own Section

The Securities and Exchange Commission's examiners will start fiscal 2027 without a single reference to crypto in their priorities, a report released on Friday shows, two years after crypto assets had a section of their own.

The Division of Examinations' 20-page report sets out where examiners will focus across more than 34,000 investment advisers, funds, broker-dealers, exchanges and clearing agencies. It is the second year in a row that crypto is absent.

The shift is stark. By BullishStation's count of the SEC's own PDFs, the word "crypto" appears 13 times in the 2024 priorities and 11 times in 2025, then zero times in both 2026 and 2027. "Tokenization" goes the other way, from zero mentions in the three earlier reports to two this year.

"Examinations provide critical insight into emerging risks, evolving business practices, and market developments across our financial system," SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said in a statement.

What replaced the crypto section

Two years ago the tone was very different. The 2025 report warned that "given the volatility and activity involving the crypto asset markets," examiners would review firms offering crypto services. It named "spot bitcoin or ether exchange-traded products" as a focus.

The 2027 report keeps a list of complex, higher-risk products, but crypto is not on it. It cites "ETFs based on less liquid assets, option-based funds, inverse ETFs, single-stock ETFs, and zero-days-to-expiration options" instead.

Tokenization appears in two places. Clearing agency exams will cover high-risk areas including "operations, and tokenization." Exams under Regulation SCI, which covers critical market systems, will look at "SI, tokenization of securities, extended trading hours, and quantum computing."

SI stands for "super intelligence," an abbreviation the report uses 11 times. Registrants are "increasingly incorporating super intelligence (SI) into their businesses," it says, from research and coding to portfolio management and compliance.

"The markets we oversee continue to evolve rapidly, and the examination program must evolve with them," Keith Cassidy, director of the Division of Examinations, said.

Why it matters for crypto firms

A missing section is not a free pass. The Division says its priorities are "not an exhaustive list," and advisers holding bitcoin ETFs for clients still face the general fiduciary and conflict-of-interest reviews that lead the report.

Still, the change fits a wider turn at the agency, which now addresses crypto mainly through rulemaking. In recent weeks it has proposed custody rules for advisers and funds, issued an "Innovation Exemption" that opened the door to 24/7 tokenized stocks, and taken comments on its Regulation Crypto Assets proposal.

For crypto markets, fewer exam sweeps mean lower compliance costs for advisers and brokers that offer bitcoin ETFs. That can make it easier for wealth managers to add the funds to client portfolios, one channel behind the daily flows we track on our ETF flows tracker.

History offers a guide to how fast this moved. Crypto had a dedicated section as recently as the 2025 report, released in October 2024. The 2026 priorities, published on Nov. 17, 2025, were the first to drop it entirely.

What comes next: fiscal 2027 began on Oct. 1, and the Division says it may adjust its focus during the year. Comments on the SEC's crypto custody proposal are due on December 7, 2026, the next concrete test of how the agency writes crypto into its rulebook.

Related: Cboe can now list options on multi-crypto ETFs · The CLARITY Act: what comes after the Senate vote

Sources: SEC press release 2026-109 (Oct. 23, 2026) · FY2027 Examination Priorities (PDF) · FY2026 Examination Priorities (PDF) · FY2025 Examination Priorities (PDF) · FY2024 Examination Priorities (PDF)

This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Crypto-assets are volatile and you can lose all of your capital.