SEC, CFTC step up crypto rulemaking after Clarity bill stalls in U.S. Senate

U.S. financial regulators are advancing crypto rulemaking through their own processes after the Clarity Act—legislation intended to clarify how digital assets are classified and overseen—stalled in the Senate. With Congress unable to agree on a framework, the SEC and CFTC are moving forward with agency-level guidance and rule proposals instead.

For markets, this shift matters because it changes where the rules come from. Agency rulemaking can move faster than legislation, but it is also easier to revise or challenge in court, and it may not resolve the core question of which regulator oversees which tokens. That ambiguity has long shaped how exchanges, issuers, and investors assess legal risk.

What to watch: the substance of the SEC and CFTC proposals, how they divide jurisdiction, and whether Congress returns to the Clarity Act. Clearer, durable rules could reduce compliance uncertainty; fragmented or litigated ones may keep it elevated.