A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule that took effect on October 2 allows a single commissioner to constitute a quorum in many cases, opening a formal path for crypto rulemaking that no longer depends on a full, five-member commission.

The amendment, released as a final rule on September 30, reduces the number of commissioners required for a quorum to one person when only two are present. The SEC said the change promotes "flexibility and finality of agency rulemaking." With Commissioner Hester Peirce's departure earlier this month, the agency is down to two commissioners: Chair Paul Atkins and former Acting Chair Mark Uyeda.

The leadership vacuum extends across both primary crypto regulators. At the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Michael Selig has served as the only Senate-confirmed chair and commissioner since December 2025. Each agency is statutorily intended to have five commissioners. Decisions over the $3 trillion crypto market now rest largely with three individuals, two of whom were nominated by President Donald Trump.

What does the quorum change actually do?

It removes a procedural bottleneck. Under the prior requirements, a recusal or absence by one of the two remaining SEC commissioners could have stalled formal rulemaking entirely. Now one commissioner can, in many matters, approve rules that apply across U.S. securities markets.

Robin Wigglesworth, writing in an October 5 Financial Times op-ed, framed the stakes bluntly: "with now just two commissioners around and it being entirely possible that one of them might have to recuse themselves from an issue (or be otherwise MIA), just one is now enough to pass a formal rule that applies to America's vast multitrillion-dollar securities markets."

Uyeda pushed back in his own Financial Times op-ed on Sunday, arguing the rule "clarifies that the Commission can establish a quorum if all but one commissioner is disqualified from a matter." He said the SEC's "commitment to its mission remains unchanged" and accused critics of misleading readers: "Suggesting that the SEC is 'hastily revamp[ing]' its quorum rule so that the remaining commissioners can 'have their way' makes for a colourful comparison to fictional dystopian regimes but misleads readers about why the Commission revised its quorum rule and why it's for the better."

Rulemaking in place of legislation

The quorum change arrives as both agencies pursue rules that would substitute for congressional action. U.S. lawmakers failed to pass a comprehensive digital asset market structure bill, and regulators have responded with proposals of their own:

• In August, the SEC proposed a safe harbor shielding companies from having tokens treated as "investment contracts."
• In October, the CFTC followed with proposed rules on crypto exchanges, with Selig saying the agency would use its "existing statutory authorities."
• On October 2, Atkins said "more regulatory proposals [were] on the horizon" for crypto.

For issuers and trading platforms, the practical consequence is that the operative definition of a token's regulatory status may soon be set by administrative rule rather than statute — a faster but less durable foundation, since a future commission can revise rules more easily than Congress can amend law.

What does this change for practitioners?

It compresses the timeline. Firms that structured token offerings around enforcement risk now face a formal safe-harbor framework from the SEC, parallel exchange rules from the CFTC, and the possibility that either package advances on the decision of a single commissioner. Compliance teams should treat the SEC's August proposal and the CFTC's October exchange rules as the working baseline for near-term U.S. market structure.

The White House had announced no nominations for either agency as of Tuesday, which could leave rulemaking in the hands of one person per agency for months. Congress retains a window to vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, though some experts doubt lawmakers will advance the legislation in a lame duck session between the 2026 midterms and the swearing-in of the next Congress in January.