With Congress Stalled, the SEC Built Its Own Crypto Rulemaking
On August 14, the SEC's three-member commission — Chair Paul Atkins, Commissioner Hester Peirce, and Commissioner Mark Uyeda — voted unanimously to advance for public comment a proposed rule titled "Regulation Crypto Assets," the agency's first formal rulemaking designed for digital asset offerings. The 400-page document creates a tiered capital-raise exemption: a $5 million startup tier and a $75 million fundraising ceiling, both operating outside the standard securities registration process that currently applies to most token issuances. A safe harbor provision would let projects exit SEC jurisdiction entirely once their networks achieve genuine decentralization — no central team actively managing outcomes — with a defined legal off-ramp rather than an ambiguous one. The comment period expected to run two to three months sets a revised final rule no earlier than 2027. The vote came days after the Senate adjourned without passing the CLARITY Act, with prediction markets pricing the bill's 2026 passage at 20%.
By proposing a standalone offering regime with defined exemption thresholds and a decentralization exit path, the SEC established that crypto projects have a formal regulatory target inside existing agency authority — one that does not require the CLARITY Act to take effect.
