Full story
SEC cancels Reg Crypto vote
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission abruptly canceled a meeting scheduled for Friday that was expected to include a vote on whether to propose new crypto-related rules, with an SEC spokesperson saying the meeting would be moved "due to an unforeseen scheduling issue."
“due to an unforeseen scheduling issue”
The canceled session had been set to consider publishing a proposal known informally as Regulation Crypto, which would establish a bespoke offering regime for digital asset investment contracts under the Securities Act.
The delay landed as the Senate left Washington on Saturday for a five-week recess without voting on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the sector's top legislative priority, leaving the bill's chances dimmer.
Under Chair Paul Atkins, the SEC has reversed its previous crypto enforcement posture, and in March he suggested the SEC would propose "safe harbor" rules that would simplify token sales and fundraising.
Reuters reported that the SEC was set to vote on highly anticipated exemptions that would allow crypto startups to raise capital without having to comply with traditional securities offering rules.
Atkins’ startup exemptions
In Reuters coverage, the SEC cancellation was tied to the expectation that the agency would vote on exemptions that would allow crypto startups to raise capital without complying with traditional securities offering rules.
Reuters also said the delay came after the Senate left Washington for a five-week recess without voting on the Clarity Act, suggesting the bill's chances of passage have dimmed.
The SEC chair Paul Atkins had previously signaled a regulatory shift, including a March suggestion that the SEC would propose "safe harbor" rules to make it easier for companies to sell tokens and raise money.
Reuters further described Atkins as considering a "fit-for-purpose startup exemption," which would allow crypto entrepreneurs to raise a certain amount of money or operate for a finite period while exempt from SEC rules.
CoinDesk framed the same SEC meeting cancellation as postponing the first major rulemaking effort in the digital assets sphere, with the agency moving the meeting to "a later date" while the industry waited for SEC or Congress to act first.
Clarity Act pushed to September
The Senate's procedural delay on the Clarity Act is now pushing the legislative test into September, with Reuters reporting that Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on 8 August setting up a 15 September vote.
“the odds drop in September”
FStech said the measure needs 60 votes to proceed, making the September vote a key test of its prospects, and it quoted Ian Katz saying, "the odds drop in September."
Criptoinforme reported that the procedural vote that could pave the way for the initiative to move forward in the upper chamber was delayed until September 15, and it said the Senate will return on September 14 and stay in session until October 2.
FStech also described the bill's ethics provision and stablecoin provisions as major obstacles, and it included Senator Cynthia Lummis writing, "Death by 1,000 cuts is just as fatal as a bullet."
Meanwhile, the SEC cancellation left market participants waiting for clarity on the regulatory treatment of crypto offerings, and finance.biggo said the next opportunity for consideration of the Clarity Act comes in September while SEC rulemaking remained a primary avenue for defining crypto offerings under federal securities law.
