Regulators Take Center Stage as Clarity Act Fades

The U.S. crypto policy has taken a shift towards regulators as the prospects for the Clarity Act have faded. The Senate missed its key window before summer recess, and attention is now focused on what U.S. regulators can do under existing authority.

For crypto firms, this matters because a new market-structure law may not arrive this year, leaving oversight of digital assets to incremental action by the SEC, CFTC, and banking agencies.

The absence of congressional action means that Congress does not clearly define which digital assets are securities, commodities or other instruments, and it does not explicitly assign broader authority to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission over much of the spot trading where crypto changes hands.

Regulatory fallback is emerging as the likeliest near-term outcome, with the SEC and CFTC issuing guidance and position statements that clarify how crypto activity such as mining, memecoins, rewards and other categories can proceed without violating current rules.