U.S. Regulators Draft Crypto Rules as Clarity Act Stalls in Senate

The U.S. Senate has left the Clarity Act — a proposed framework for digital-asset market structure — in legislative limbo, CNBC reported, prompting the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to accelerate parallel rulemaking on crypto oversight.

Without a federal statute in place, both agencies must define on their own which digital assets fall under securities law, which trade under derivatives regulation, and how intermediaries must register. The Senate bill would have codified those distinctions.

What is the Clarity Act?

The proposed legislation would have assigned primary federal oversight of digital assets based on token characteristics. Tokens structured as decentralized commodities would have fallen under the CFTC, while investment-contract tokens would have remained with the SEC. The framework would also have required crypto intermediaries to register with a single agency and introduced offering-specific disclosure obligations.

Industry participants have backed federal clarity for years, arguing that ad hoc enforcement actions and state-by-state frameworks create legal uncertainty and raise the cost of U.S. product launches.

What are the regulators doing now?

CNBC reported that SEC and CFTC staff are drafting interpretive releases and rule proposals that could be published in the coming months. Likely priorities include:

• An SEC framework defining when a token's offer and sale constitutes an investment contract
• A CFTC rule on conditions for trading digital assets as commodities on registered derivatives platforms
• Joint guidance on custody standards, trade reporting, registration thresholds, and treatment of wrapped, staked or restaked tokens

The two agencies have previously coordinated on statements touching tokenized collateral and registered crypto-trading venues, suggesting staff-level alignment on shared definitions.

What does the absence of a statute mean in practice?

Token issuers, exchanges and custodians have operated for years under what practitioners describe as "regulation by enforcement" rather than a codified market structure, with each new product requiring bespoke analysis of whether underlying tokens meet securities tests. Several institutional participants have publicly delayed U.S. activity pending clearer rules, and outside-counsel opinions have become routine costs of product launches.

The agencies can issue binding guidance in lieu of legislation. Any substantive rule, however, must clear the formal notice-and-comment process — typically three to six months at the SEC and shorter, in some cases, at the CFTC.

How is industry responding?

Trade groups representing both crypto-native firms and incumbent banks have pressed the agencies to publish formal guidance even without legislation, arguing that codified rules would compress product-launch timelines and reduce reliance on no-action letters. Banking-side participants, by contrast, have asked regulators to preserve heightened capital and liquidity requirements for tokenized deposits and stablecoin reserves.

What comes next?

If Congress does not attach the Clarity Act to a year-end legislative vehicle such as a must-pass spending bill or tax package, the SEC and CFTC will remain the sole source of new digital-asset rules through at least mid-2026. Their guidance will shape how token launches, exchange listings and custodial services are structured in U.S. markets.