The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission abruptly canceled an open meeting set for Friday, August 14, where commissioners were expected to vote on proposing new fundraising rules for crypto companies. The formal Sunshine Act cancellation notice, signed by SEC Secretary Vanessa A. Countryman on August 13, gave no reason and set no replacement date. An agency spokesperson separately told Reuters the session would be moved "due to an unforeseen scheduling issue."
The meeting had been set for 10:00 a.m. ET with a single agenda item: whether to propose a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets.
The proposal that triggered the canceled vote
SEC Chair Paul Atkins previewed the Regulation Crypto framework during official remarks in March. He said the Commission should consider a startup exemption, with illustrative figures suggesting it could allow companies to operate for up to four years and raise roughly $5 million. Separately, he described a fundraising exemption that could permit as much as $75 million during a 12-month period. Atkins also suggested a safe harbor provision to clarify when an issuer has completed or permanently stopped the essential managerial efforts associated with an investment contract.
Those figures are not final rules. Atkins offered them to signal the range the agency had in mind for what remains an unpublished proposal.
The proposal appears in the federal regulatory review system under identifier RIN 3235-AN38. It was received by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on August 12, one day before the cancellation. As of August 14, Reginfo.gov shows the rule as still undergoing federal review with no legal deadline attached.
The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also issued a joint interpretation in March stating that investment contracts can come to an end. That action clarified how the agencies read existing law but did not establish any of the exemptions Atkins described.
What the cancellation does and does not mean
The Sunshine Act notice confirms the cancellation but gives no indication the proposal has been withdrawn from the rulemaking pipeline. The SEC's meeting page still marks the August 14 session as canceled and shows no future date. Even if commissioners had voted on Friday, approval would have started a public notice-and-comment period rather than immediately created binding requirements.
Separate agency projects are also underway on crypto market structure and on broker-dealer requirements. Atkins has said the agency is developing what he called an "innovation exemption" that would let companies test digital asset business models, including blockchain-based stocks, without full compliance with the SEC's existing disclosure requirements. That project has not yet reached the proposal stage.
The CLARITY Act and what Congress still has to settle
The SEC postponement came as federal crypto legislation hit its own wall. The Senate left Washington for a five-week recess without a floor vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, H.R. 3633. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on the bill on August 7 before the chamber adjourned until September 14. That cloture motion is set to ripen at 2:15 p.m. on September 15.
The CLARITY Act would establish federal rules tailored to cryptocurrency markets and divide regulatory authority between the SEC and the CFTC. Its chances of passage grew less certain after the Senate declined to take it up before the recess.
Atkins has said only Congress can "future-proof" a comprehensive crypto market structure framework. The SEC can write rules under its existing statutory authority but cannot give the CFTC all the powers the CLARITY Act contemplates.
A policy shift under Trump
The current rulemaking effort marks a departure from the SEC's posture under its previous Democratic leadership. That leadership filed enforcement actions against crypto firms including Coinbase and Binance on the theory that their tokens were unregistered securities, and those lawsuits were dismissed after Trump took office. Early in his second term, the administration also rescinded accounting guidance that had made it costly for banks to hold digital assets in custody.
Atkins, confirmed as chair under Trump, has backed the crypto industry's argument that most tokens resemble commodities more than securities. Trump courted significant crypto industry support during his 2024 campaign. His family has also launched its own token, an arrangement that has drawn scrutiny as the administration works to rewrite the regulatory framework for digital assets.
Atkins told CNBC on July 27 that the agency was "ready, willing, and able to come out with rules" on digital assets even if the Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act.
Gunel Ismayilova
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