After Clarity Act Stalls, SEC and CFTC Say They’ll Write Crypto Rules on Their Own

The chairs of the SEC and the CFTC pledged Wednesday to regulate crypto using the authority their agencies have now, one day after the Clarity Act stalled in a Senate procedural vote. JPMorgan analysts said the same day that rules written that way are easier to undo than a statute.

“Americans deserve regulatory clarity, legal certainty, and consumer protections in crypto asset markets,” Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said in a statement he shared on X Wednesday morning. “The CFTC is locked in and ready to ship its rules for the new frontier of finance.”

Paul Atkins, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, added about an hour and a half later: “I have been unequivocal: with or without legislation, we will act decisively within the SEC’s statutory authority to deliver certainty for American investors and for the entrepreneurs shaping our technological future.”

In a Wednesday note, Kenneth Worthington’s team at JPMorgan wrote that “agency rulemaking is less durable than legislative statutes since the agency itself can repeal or amend its rules in subsequent administrations and is vulnerable to courts, whereas repealing statutes would require another act of Congress,” according to The Block. The analysts said the industry is particularly focused on a possible SEC “innovation exemption” that would cover tokenized stocks among other crypto products, a proposal they noted the agency was reported to be holding until the bill’s fate was clear.

Selig had argued for the bill over agency action in August, when he said he had directed CFTC staff to begin exploring rules as a fallback. “Passing CLARITY is the surest way that we can prevent another Gary Gensler from running a rogue campaign of lawfare against the individuals and companies in this room,” he said on Aug. 20.

The SEC is further along. Its Regulation Crypto Assets proposal, which would create two registration exemptions for token offerings and a conditional safe harbor, remains open for comment until Oct. 20.

Related Listen: The Chopping Block: Crypto Clarity Act Drama + Stablecoin Yield Wars + Developer Liability Fights

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