Crypto’s Future Won’t Wait on Congress: Industry Pushes Ahead With or Without CLARITY Act

It seems US crypto policy is moving in two places at once, as Congress is still debating the CLARITY Act, while the SEC and CFTC have already issued new guidance for crypto issuers.

Chris Perkins, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management, said the crypto industry could still thrive even if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act. He said SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig are already creating workable rules through agency guidance.

The key change here is that being treated as a security no longer has to block a token project, Perkins claimed.

These guys are creating policy and precedent every single day, and they are giving us the one thing we’ve needed for a very long time, that certainty, that stability, and ultimately, a taxonomy. In the past, being a security was a death sentence; there was nowhere to go with it, and it just didn’t reconcile…now it is awesome to be a security.

Chris Perkins, CEO of 250 Digital Asset Management.

Atkins also described possible exemptions and safe harbors for crypto projects. These could include a startup exemption lasting up to four years, a fundraising exemption allowing up to US$75 million (AU$114.75 million) in any 12-month period, and a safe harbor for some assets after issuers finish the main work needed to develop them.

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The Joint Venture

In March, the SEC and CFTC released an interpretation explaining how federal securities and commodities rules apply to some crypto assets and transactions. The SEC release took effect on March 23.

The guidance sets out categories for digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities, and it also explains how a crypto asset that is not itself a security may become part of an investment contract (and how it may later stop being treated that way).

Congress still matters because agency rules can be changed more easily by future administrations, and a law would be harder to reverse. Atkins said only Congress can create a long-term market-structure framework for crypto.

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