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SEC Plans Crypto Rules as CLARITY Act Sits Stuck in Senate
The SEC put crypto investment contracts on its Friday agenda, pushing forward without Congress. CLARITY Act remains stalled. Senate returns Sept. 14.
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The SEC put crypto asset investment contracts on its Friday meeting agenda. The commission is pushing forward even as Congress left town without passing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the bill the industry had been counting on.
The CLARITY Act was supposed to draw a clean line between SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets. The Senate could not get it across the finish line before recess. SEC Chair Paul Atkins had already warned this could happen. Before lawmakers headed out, he said the commission was ready to write its own rules if the Senate did not act.
Friday's meeting puts the structure and offering of crypto investment contracts directly on the table. The SEC wants to evaluate regulations that could reshape how those contracts work. The industry has been operating in a gray zone for years. The commission is not waiting for Congress to hand it a roadmap.
The scope of what the SEC can actually do is murky. Without a law behind it, any new rules will face pushback. Legal challenges are likely. Critics will argue the SEC is stretching its statutory authority beyond what existing legislation allows. That argument has merit. The agency has run into that wall before.
From the SEC's perspective, doing nothing is not an option. The crypto market keeps growing. Investment contracts involving digital assets keep multiplying. The absence of clear rules creates real risks for retail investors. The commission appears to have decided that acting imperfectly is better than not acting at all.
The bill is not dead yet. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a motion to resume debate when the Senate returns from recess on September 14. A path exists. It is a long one.