Congress May Be Stalled but US Crypto Regulators Are Still Moving Forward 

• The CLARITY Act still has no floor vote scheduled with the Senate’s recess days away.
• The SEC and CFTC have kept building rules on their own, without waiting for the bill.
• Their joint framework already covers registration exemptions and custody treatment.

Congress hasn’t passed comprehensive crypto legislation, and might not this year. That hasn’t stopped the SEC and CFTC from building out real rules anyway, using authority they already have.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act remains stuck without a scheduled Senate floor vote, even with the chamber’s August recess just days out. But while lawmakers negotiate, the two federal regulators most responsible for crypto oversight have been busy. 

Both agencies are reportedly working through a rulemaking package covering registration exemptions for token launches, a safe harbor for teams decentralizing away from managerial control, broker-dealer custody treatment, and trading-venue structure.

Congress and Regulators Are Moving on Separate Timelines 

This split matters because it shows regulatory clarity isn’t actually waiting on Congress the way headlines about the CLARITY Act deadline suggest. The SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year committing to coordinate on shared crypto oversight, and both have since moved on pieces of that mandate independently, including a joint interpretation clarifying how existing securities law applies to crypto assets.

The legislative track still matters for anything requiring statutory authority Congress alone can grant, like a permanent jurisdictional split between the two agencies. But the agency-level track is where near-term operational clarity for exchanges and token issuers is actually showing up. A firm waiting on the CLARITY Act to know whether it can register a token exemption may already have more of an answer than the legislative gridlock suggests.

What the SEC and CFTC Actions Could Mean for Crypto in 2026 

None of this makes the CLARITY Act irrelevant. A statutory framework would still settle jurisdictional questions the agencies can’t resolve through interpretation alone and it would be far harder for a future administration to unwind than agency guidance is. But the gap between “Congress hasn’t acted” and “nothing is happening” has gotten wider this year than the deadline coverage tends to suggest.

Watch both tracks separately going forward. A missed Senate vote this week doesn’t freeze crypto regulation in the US. It just means the more durable version of clarity keeps waiting.

Sources:

CFTC Joins SEC to Clarify Application of Federal Securities Laws to Crypto Assets