The SEC canceled a meeting to kick off crypto fundraising rulemaking after SIFMA discussed legal action and the White House asked for a delay. The Clarity Act vote is set for Sept. 15.
The Securities and Exchange Commission pulled the plug on a meeting Friday that would have started the formal rulemaking process for a new U.S. crypto fundraising framework, known as Regulation Crypto Assets. The meeting had been announced three days earlier and was seen as the agency taking the lead on clearer crypto rules while the Clarity Act, the industry's marquee legislation, stays in limbo until lawmakers return from recess in mid-September.
An SEC spokesperson blamed an "unforeseen scheduling issue" and offered no further detail. But people in crypto policy circles point to additional forces at work: the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the White House.
Over the past year, SIFMA, which represents many of Wall Street's leading broker-dealers and asset managers, has pushed back against broad regulatory relief for crypto and tokenized securities. In a June 2025 letter, the group urged the SEC to avoid major changes through no-action letters or exemptions. It called for a public notice-and-comment process, warning that broad relief could create regulatory arbitrage, weaken investor protections and fracture market liquidity.
The SEC's Crypto Task Force had been working on an innovation exemption that would give crypto firms more flexibility to trade tokenized securities without facing all the rules that govern traditional Wall Street firms. Bloomberg reported the agency was considering unveiling details last Friday alongside the fundraising proposal. Unlike the fundraising rule, the innovation exemption would rely on the SEC's existing exemptive authority rather than formal rulemaking.
Multiple industry sources told Crypto In America that the White House asked the SEC to postpone Friday's meeting over concerns that both Reg Crypto Assets and the innovation exemption could complicate Clarity Act negotiations ahead of the Senate's procedural vote in September. The bill covers both crypto fundraising and tokenized securities.
There may be another layer. Two sources familiar with the matter said SIFMA discussed the possibility of legal action if it determined the SEC had exceeded its statutory authority under federal securities laws, including through exemptions or no-action relief. The prospect of a legal challenge may have contributed to the White House's request for the SEC to stand down, the sources said. A SIFMA spokesperson declined to address the discussions, saying: "SIFMA does not comment on specious or hypothetical theories. In this situation in particular, it would be premature to comment on something that currently doesn't exist."
The White House and the SEC did not respond to requests for comment.
The SEC has not said whether it will reschedule the meeting before the Senate returns next month. This week, the policy conversation continues with separate events on Wednesday and Thursday. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig will attend a White House event Wednesday alongside executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Kraken, a16z, BitGo, Blockchain.com, Polymarket, Kalshi, Chainlink, Intercontinental Exchange and Nasdaq, among others. President Trump is expected to deliver remarks.
On Thursday, Selig will host the inaugural meeting of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee. Futures Industry Association President and CEO Walt Lukken will chair the 43-member committee. The agenda includes crypto regulation, artificial intelligence and prediction markets.
Negotiators continue to work on the Clarity Act's unresolved issues ahead of a cloture vote scheduled for Sept. 15. DeFi and developer protections, provisions in the Senate Agriculture Committee's portion of the bill, and ethics rules for government officials remain outstanding. The banking industry is lobbying for changes to the bill's stablecoin yield provisions. Despite that push, some big-bank CEOs still support the broader legislation, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Citi CEO Jane Fraser. "We have not given up on pushing to get some improvements made to the bill, but we would like to see a good bill go through," Fraser told FOX Business last week. "I think it would be excellent for the system."
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