SEC, CFTC Forge Their Own Crypto Paths as CLARITY Act Stalls Out

Key Takeaways

• The SEC votes Aug. 14 on new crypto fundraising rules for startups and other issuers.
• The Senate’s Clarity Act faces a 60-vote cloture test on Sept. 15 after stalling in August.
• CFTC Chair Michael Selig says the agency will write crypto rules regardless of Congress.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the vote lands while a much bigger piece of crypto legislation remains jammed in the Senate. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which cleared the House last year with bipartisan support, has yet to reach a floor vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a procedural motion just before lawmakers bolted for the August recess, setting up a vote for Sept. 15.

That divide between regulators moving quickly and Congress grinding slowly has become the defining story of crypto policy in Washington this year.

SEC Moves on Its Own Authority

The SEC’s Aug. 14 meeting has one item on the agenda: whether to propose a new offering framework, often called Regulation Crypto, for investment contracts tied to digital assets. The rule would give startups a lighter route to raising capital, similar to exemptions already used by smaller businesses across other industries.

It would also create a pathway for tokens to graduate from securities status once their underlying network becomes decentralized enough that no single company or team remains in control. That has been one of crypto’s nastiest legal fault lines since the SEC began pursuing enforcement cases against token issuers years ago.