SEC Plans Two Major Crypto Moves as Clarity Act Stalls

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to roll out a pair of major crypto initiatives in the coming days, even as the landmark Clarity Act stalls in Congress.

An open meeting on Friday

The regulator announced it will hold an open meeting on Friday, August 14, to consider proposing new rules that would create a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets.

The agency is also planning to soon unveil its so-called innovation exemption for trading digital versions of securities.

The move could reshape the American stock market and pave the way for around-the-clock trading of stock tokens on blockchains.

Competition with brokerages

Major crypto firms, including Coinbase, have signaled they will start offering tokenized stock trading in the U.S. once the rules permit it.

Kraken, Robinhood, and others have already introduced similar products outside the country, and Coinbase recently launched tokenized stock trading internationally.

The innovation exemption could put crypto upstarts into direct competition with traditional brokerages like Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said back in June that the exemption would let companies experiment with new digital asset business models without following all SEC disclosure and investor-protection rules.