U.S. crypto regulation shifts toward agencies as midterms unfold

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US crypto regulation shift

Highlights

SEC, CFTC, and Treasury are expected to drive U.S. crypto regulation over the next few years as legislative efforts remain stalled.
SEC proposed new frameworks in August and September for crypto fundraising, token offerings, buybacks, and staking receipt tokens, increasing direct regulatory engagement.
Institutional investors continue to delay significant capital deployment due to reliance on easily reversible agency guidance rather than comprehensive legislation like the stalled CLARITY Act.

Agency action takes center stage

As reported by Cointelegraph, Ma says the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Treasury are likely to drive the next few years of crypto regulation as voting proceeds in the midterm elections.

She says the election could still reshape the path forward for the stalled CLARITY Act, but adds that "real movement" is coming from regulators that are already engaging more directly with crypto projects. Ma cautions that such engagement does not deliver the stability the sector had hoped to secure through legislation.

The SEC has already taken steps in that direction. In August, the agency proposed a framework for crypto fundraising, including exemptions for certain token offerings and a safe harbor from treatment as investment contracts. In September, it also updated staff guidance covering token buybacks, crypto networks and staking receipt tokens.

The CFTC, meanwhile, submitted a crypto market regulatory plan for White House review on Sept. 17, two days after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act. Ma says the long-term goal remains a statute that cannot be reversed whenever a government changes.

Investor certainty remains the bigger issue

That legal uncertainty also matters for institutional investors assessing exposure to digital assets and tokenized real-world assets.

Michael Ho, co-founder of D3, the team behind Doma Protocol, says U.S. crypto policy continues to rest on agency guidance that a future administration can reverse while the market structure bill remains stalled. He says that keeps serious capital waiting and that clear rules written into law are what will bring institutional capital into tokenized real-world assets.

The result is a regulatory path that may continue to move through agency frameworks and guidance in the near term, even as the industry keeps pressing for congressional action that offers longer-lasting legal certainty.

Our earlier report on the tightening U.S. midterm races detailed how Republican campaigns sharply ramped up advertising spending as polling narrowed, turning some previously safe contests into costly battlegrounds. It also noted how high fuel prices and broader affordability pressures were shaping voter sentiment and forcing shifts in campaign strategy and resource allocation.

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