Benchmark calls SEC NMS rollback the biggest US crypto rule of 2026

Benchmark says the SEC’s move to scrap key National Market System rules could end up being the most important U.S. crypto policy shift of 2026. The firm pointed to last week’s proposal to rescind Rules 611 and 610(e), a step that would chip away at the market structure framework that still governs how stocks and, by extension, many crypto-linked products are traded.

The proposal matters because those rules sit close to the plumbing of U.S. markets. Rule 611, the trade-through protection rule, is designed to keep orders from being executed at worse prices than those available elsewhere. Rule 610(e) limits certain fees tied to access and routing. If the SEC pares those back, trading venues would get more room to compete on execution and pricing, and that could matter for listed crypto vehicles as much as for equities.

For crypto traders, the immediate read is less about headlines and more about market access. A looser NMS regime could lower some of the frictions that have long made U.S. market structure feel clumsy, especially for products that depend on fast routing, tight spreads and reliable price discovery. That is one reason Benchmark described the proposal as the year’s most consequential rulemaking for the sector. It is not a token-listing story. It is an infrastructure story.

There is still a long road between proposal and any actual change in trading conditions. The SEC will have to work through comments, revisions and final approval, and any legal challenge could slow the process further. Even so, the direction matters. Regulators rarely take a swing at rules this embedded in the market’s plumbing unless they think the current setup is doing too little, or too much, in the wrong places.

The near-term watch item is the SEC comment process and whether the agency narrows the proposal before final adoption. Traders should also keep an eye on whether any exchange or broker changes execution practices around listed crypto products first, because that would be the clearest early read on how far this rollback might reach.