SEC delays Regulation Crypto meeting, no new date set

SEC Chair Paul Atkins previewed the Regulation Crypto framework in March. In official remarks, Atkins said the Commission should consider a temporary startup exemption, a larger fundraising exemption and an investment contract safe harbor.

He gave illustrative figures of up to four years and roughly $5 million for a startup exemption. A separate fundraising exemption could permit as much as $75 million during a 12 month period. Those figures are not final rules or confirmed thresholds for an unpublished proposal. Atkins also suggested a safe harbor could clarify when an issuer has completed or permanently stopped the essential managerial efforts associated with an investment contract.

The SEC and CFTC separately issued an interpretation in March stating that investment contracts can come to an end. That action clarified the agencies’ view of existing law but did not establish the exemptions contemplated under Regulation Crypto.

The agency postponement comes while the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is also waiting for its next procedural step. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 on Aug. 7 before the Senate adjourned until Sept. 14. The official Senate schedule says the cloture motion will ripen at 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 15.

As crypto.news reported, the CLARITY Act now faces a Sept. 15 procedural test rather than a final passage vote. Atkins has also said only Congress can “future-proof” a comprehensive crypto market structure framework. The agency can write rules under its existing authority, but it cannot independently give the CFTC all the powers contemplated by legislation.

The SEC has not set a new meeting date. The Senate’s CLARITY Act procedural step is scheduled for Sept. 15.