Atkins Ties Durable Crypto Rules to Congress as SEC Comment Deadline Nears

SEC Chair Paul Atkins is casting congressional legislation as essential to durable U.S. crypto rules while the Securities and Exchange Commission seeks input on a narrower proposal for certain investment-contract offerings.

Unveiled Aug. 18, “Regulation Crypto Assets” would set two offering exemptions for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. One track would cap an offering at $5 million across four years; the other would permit up to $75 million in each 12-month period. The proposal also contains a conditional safe harbor. The limits apply to separate exemptions, and the SEC has yet to finalize the plan.

Atkins has argued that Congress must provide a durable foundation while the SEC works on narrower matters under its existing authority. In an Aug. 18 statement, he wrote, “The SEC has and will continue to support Congress in delivering the CLARITY Act to President Trump’s desk.” The bill addresses the offer and sale of digital commodities under the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s regulatory remit.

The Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a procedural vote on Sept. 15. The motion sought cloture on a bid to proceed to H.R. 3633; the count was 49-50, with one senator not voting. The vote concerned whether the chamber could take up the measure and did not decide whether to pass it.

On Sept. 17, Atkins described the SEC’s temporary, conditional relief for certain tokenized-securities venues and liquidity providers as an interim step. The measure covers trading certain tokenized stocks in a permissioned environment. Atkins said the relief “must be followed by durable rulemaking.”

The two agency actions address different activities: one covers offerings tied to certain crypto investment contracts, while the other concerns trading tokenized stocks. Atkins has also discussed SEC rules for on-chain financing under existing authority in earlier coverage of his on-chain financing plans.

Public comments on Regulation Crypto Assets are due Oct. 20.