SEC and CFTC launch crypto rule push as Senate vote slips to September
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The SEC and CFTC are advancing crypto rule proposals without waiting for Congress, with CFTC Chair Michael Selig saying Aug. 4 the agency has proposals ready and plans to finalize them before the current administration ends. The Senate left the CLARITY Act untouched before its August recess, and Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture, setting up a procedural vote around Sept. 15 that would require 60 votes. The House passed its own version 294-134 last July.
Agency Proposals Without Congress
CFTC Chair Michael Selig said Aug. 4 that the agency has crypto rule proposals ready and plans to finalize them before the current administration ends. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the SEC can keep pursuing meaningful crypto rulemaking even if Congress fails to act. SEC Chair Paul Atkins unveiled the SEC's Regulation Crypto Assets framework in March and called agency rulemaking a head start on legislation. The SEC and CFTC in March issued a joint interpretation stating most crypto assets are not themselves securities, plus a token taxonomy covering staking, mining, wrapping and airdrops.
CLARITY Act Procedural Hurdle
The House passed its own version of CLARITY 294-134 last July, but the Senate left the bill untouched before its August recess. Majority Leader John Thune has filed cloture on a motion to proceed, setting up a procedural vote around Sept. 15 that would require 60 votes to advance. The Senate route remains separate from agency action, which is moving regardless of whether Congress settles jurisdiction.
Durability of Agency Rules
The SEC's April staff statement on crypto interfaces describes itself as an interim step and says it will automatically be considered withdrawn five years out absent Commission action. The March SEC-CFTC interpretation is more durable than a staff memo, but the SEC's release says the Commission may refine, revise or expand it as its understanding changes. Interpretations lost some legal shelter after the Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision ended judicial deference to agency readings of ambiguous statutes. A completed rule from the SEC's Aug. 14 proposal or the CFTC's derivatives framework would require the next administration to use the same notice-and-comment process to undo. Courts review those reversals under the arbitrary-and-capricious standard.
What's Next
The Senate is set to take a procedural vote around Sept. 15 that will determine whether CLARITY advances or stalls. It remains unclear whether any rules finalized by the SEC and CFTC before the administration ends will survive the next administration and judicial review.
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SEC and CFTC launch crypto rule push as Senate vote slips to September
