SEC Cancels Crypto Rulemaking After Wall Street Pushback
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- SEC canceled a Friday open meeting that would have launched formal rulemaking on Regulation Crypto Assets, just three days after announcing it, with a spokesperson citing only an "unforeseen scheduling issue."
- SIFMA discussed the possibility of legal action if the SEC exceeded its statutory authority through exemptions or no-action relief, and two sources said that prospect may have contributed to the White House's decision to ask the SEC to stand down.
- The White House asked the SEC to postpone the meeting over concerns that Reg Crypto Assets and a separate innovation exemption could complicate Clarity Act negotiations ahead of the Senate's September 15 cloture vote.
- SIFMA argued in a June 2025 letter that broad regulatory relief for crypto and tokenized-securities firms could create regulatory arbitrage, weaken investor protections, and fracture market liquidity, urging a public notice-and-comment process instead.
- The innovation exemption under consideration would have allowed crypto firms to trade tokenized securities without full traditional Wall Street rules, relying on the SEC's existing exemptive authority rather than formal rulemaking.
- SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig will attend a Wednesday White House crypto event with Trump and executives including Coinbase's Brian Armstrong, Ripple's Brad Garlinghouse, and Gemini's Winklevoss twins.
- Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Citi CEO Jane Fraser said they still want to see the broader Clarity Act pass despite ongoing banking-industry lobbying over its stablecoin yield provisions.
Why it matters: The SEC's sudden pullback shows that even with a Republican chairman and a crypto-friendly White House, the agency can't move unilaterally when Wall Street broker-dealers threaten litigation. With the Clarity Act's September 15 cloture vote looming, the shelved innovation exemption and rulemaking framework may get folded into congressional negotiations instead of advancing through agency action.
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