On August 14, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will consider a proposal for Regulation Crypto — a special framework for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. The meeting will launch the SEC’s first major formal rulemaking process focused on crypto regulation, marking a shift from staff guidance to the development of official rules for the industry.
After the vote, the commission will publish the proposal and open it for public comment. The comment period typically lasts two to three months, after which the SEC may revise the document before adopting it in final form.
Regulation Crypto will create a separate framework for certain investment contracts. Under the SEC’s plan, crypto companies could raise capital for their projects without registering the offering with the agency. Companies that stop directly managing their projects could also no longer be subject to SEC jurisdiction.
The process will begin shortly after the Senate failed to advance key votes on the CLARITY Act — a bill designed to establish a legal framework for crypto market regulation in the U.S. — before the August recess.
Analyst Jaret Seiberg called Regulation Crypto the first of several possible SEC rulemaking efforts that could bring greater clarity to the rules governing crypto assets.
“The proposal’s launch is directly linked to the Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act,” he said.
In addition to Regulation Crypto, the SEC is working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on the classification of crypto assets and is also developing an approach to tokenized securities.