The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) newly established Crypto Task Force is expected to provide much-needed regulatory clarity for institutional investors, according to a research note by investment bank Piper Sandler.

In a statement last week, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce outlined ten key priorities for the task force, which she is leading. According to Piper Sandler analysts, the initiative is set to ease regulatory uncertainties that have long deterred institutional players from entering or expanding in the digital asset market.

"Navigating the crypto regulatory landscape under the new SEC leadership should be much smoother and less risky than in the past, Piper Sandler stated in its report. "This initiative is expected to accelerate the adoption of digital asset initiatives over the coming years."

Meanwhile, Piper Sandler keeps a positive outlook on Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ: HOOD ) and Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY ), calling them key beneficiaries of the regulatory changes.

Robinhood's crypto selection is still pretty limited compared to big players like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN ) and Kraken, but that could change soon. Analysts expect the platform to add more tokens and roll out new features like staking and lending.

Right now, Robinhood lets users trade 22 different tokens—way fewer than its crypto-native rivals but still ahead of traditional brokerages like Fidelity and Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW ), which offer fewer than five.

Piper Sandler also pointed out a big jump in Robinhood’s crypto trading activity after the U.S. presidential election. Monthly trading volume shot up from an average of $7.8 billion (January-October 2024) to $33.1 billion in November-December 2024. This spike happened right around the time Robinhood brought back major cryptocurrencies like Solana , Cardano , and XRP .

Elsewhere, Piper Sandler expects Galaxy Digital to move up to Nasdaq by the end of 2025. On top of that, the Canadian-listed bitcoin miner is likely to land a major deal with a U.S. hyperscaler, which could give a serious boost to its long-term earnings.

The report then delved into Bitcoin’s price cycles, which usually revolve around its "halving" events. Since the last halving was around ten months ago, Piper Sandler predicted that Bitcoin’s price could keep climbing for another eight months. If that trend holds, both Robinhood and Galaxy Digital stand to benefit.

That said, the report warns of some risks. Regulatory uncertainty, crypto price swings, and rising energy costs could all impact these investments. Robinhood might face hurdles with compliance in retail trading activity, while Galaxy Digital has to navigate counterparty risks and the challenge of getting approvals to expand its mining-to-data-center operations.

Summing up, Piper Sandler remains bullish on both Robinhood and Galaxy Digital, keeping an Overweight rating on both. The analyst set price targets at $54 for Robinhood and C$42 for Galaxy Digital.