Key Takeaways
- The SEC and CFTC have accelerated crypto policymaking while the CLARITY Act remains unresolved in Congress.
- At least 13 regulatory moves now address token classification, staking, DeFi, tokenized stocks, spot markets, perpetual futures, and blockchain infrastructure.
- The agencies can act under existing securities and commodities laws, but congressional legislation would provide statutory market-structure rules that are harder for future regulators to reverse.
Congress was supposed to deliver the framework that would determine how America’s crypto market would be divided between the SEC and the CFTC.
Instead, the regulators are increasingly doing the work themselves.
The CLARITY Act remains unresolved after its latest setback in the Senate, but the regulatory environment surrounding crypto has changed considerably in 2026.
The SEC and CFTC have introduced interpretations, exemptions, proposals, and guidance covering many of the same questions that pushed Congress toward comprehensive market-structure legislation in the first place.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins made the strategy clear on Sept. 17 when announcing an exemption for tokenized securities.
e Commission, he said, could continue facilitating onchain markets “within its statutory authority” even while lawmakers debate legislation.
That does not mean regulators have independently enacted their own CLARITY Act.
Some of the measures below are binding Commission actions. Others are proposals, staff guidance, temporary exemptions, or regulatory initiatives. But collectively, they show how much of the US crypto framework is being constructed without waiting for Congress.
SEC and CFTC Start Drawing the Regulatory Map
The first problem regulators needed to address was jurisdiction.
For years, crypto companies faced uncertainty over whether tokens were securities, commodities, or something else, while the SEC and CFTC frequently approached the market from different statutory mandates.
That has changed substantially in 2026.
1. SEC Crypto Task Force
Commissioner Hester Peirce’s Crypto Task Force was established to help determine which crypto assets and transactions fall under securities law, create workable registration pathways, and develop disclosure frameworks tailored to crypto.
2. Project Crypto
Project Crypto takes that work beyond classification. The initiative is designed to modernize securities regulation for markets that increasingly operate on blockchain infrastructure, including trading, custody, and distribution of tokenized assets.
3. SEC-CFTC Crypto Classification Framework
In March, the agencies issued a joint interpretation establishing categories including digital commodities, collectibles, tools, stablecoins and digital securities.
The framework also addresses staking, mining, airdrops, and wrapped assets, answering several questions previously handled largely through enforcement and individual legal analysis.
4. SEC-CFTC Harmonization MOU
The agencies signed a formal memorandum of understanding on March 11 aimed at reducing regulatory duplication and coordinating areas including crypto, clearing, margin, collateral and reporting.
The MOU created a broader effort to coordinate definitions, registration requirements, and regulatory treatment across the SEC and CFTC.
That matters because one of CLARITY’s central purposes is establishing where SEC authority ends and CFTC authority begins. Regulators are now trying to reduce that friction themselves.
From Staking to Tokenized US Stocks
Once jurisdiction became clearer, regulators moved toward a second question: what can crypto companies actually do?
Several 2026 actions directly affect products that previously existed in regulatory grey areas.
5. SEC Guidance on Staking, Mining and Airdrops
The SEC’s crypto interpretation provides guidance on when activities, including protocol staking, mining, and certain airdrops, do not themselves create securities transactions.
The framework does not make every staking product legal. How an arrangement is structured and marketed can still change its treatment.
6. DeFi and Self-Custody Interface Guidance
SEC staff separately addressed software that allows users to interact with blockchain protocols via self-custodial wallets.
Under specified circumstances, merely providing an interface that helps users prepare transactions does not automatically require the provider to register as a broker.
7. SEC Innovation Exemption
The SEC’s tokenized-stock exemption goes considerably further.
For five years, qualifying venues can facilitate trading of tokenized US equities through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, subject to conditions.
It effectively gives regulators a live experiment in moving conventional securities infrastructure onchain.
8. Regulation of Crypto Assets
The SEC has also proposed a dedicated fundraising regime.
The proposal includes exemptions for offerings of up to $5 million over four years and for qualifying offerings of up to $75 million over 12 months, along with provisions specifying when an investment contract ceases to be treated as a security.
This remains a proposal rather than a final regulation.
CFTC Builds the Trading Infrastructure
The CFTC is simultaneously building the commodity-market side of the framework.
Its focus increasingly extends beyond deciding whether an asset is a commodity toward determining where and how those assets can trade inside regulated markets.
9. CFTC Innovation Task Force
Chairman Michael Selig launched the Innovation Task Force to accelerate regulatory work covering crypto, blockchain, AI, and prediction markets.
It is coordinating with the SEC Crypto Task Force, reinforcing the agencies’ move away from developing crypto policy independently.
10. CFTC Crypto and Blockchain FAQs
The CFTC has issued and updated guidance explaining how registered firms can use blockchain infrastructure, including treatment of tokenized customer funds and distributed-ledger recordkeeping.
11. Spot Crypto and Perpetual Markets
The SEC and CFTC have worked on pathways that allow registered venues to offer certain spot crypto products under their existing authority.
The CFTC has separately advanced perpetual futures, including a regulatory review route for contracts that resemble the perpetual products dominating offshore crypto derivatives markets.
12. Crypto Collateral and Market Infrastructure
CFTC actions also address the use of crypto assets and tokenized instruments as collateral, as well as blockchain-based regulatory records and other market infrastructure.
This pushes blockchain deeper into regulated financial plumbing rather than limiting federal crypto policy to whether individual tokens qualify as securities.
What Can Regulators Do Without Congress?
The scale of these changes creates a tempting conclusion: perhaps the SEC and CFTC no longer need CLARITY.
Their own statements suggest otherwise.
Atkins said in August that congressional legislation remains “indispensable” to establishing durable rules that cannot easily be reversed by a future administration.
The reason is authority.
The SEC can interpret federal securities laws, issue exemptions, and change regulations within the powers Congress has already granted it. The CFTC can do the same under the Commodity Exchange Act.
They cannot simply give themselves new statutory jurisdiction.
Nor should every item above be described as legally equivalent. The March crypto classification framework is a Commission interpretation. Regulation of Crypto Assets is only proposed. The Innovation Exemption is temporary. Some DeFi and CFTC positions are staff guidance or no-action relief rather than federal regulations.
Even the SEC’s five-year tokenized-stock exemption is deliberately structured as an experiment intended to inform later rulemaking.
The CLARITY Act could codify broader market-structure boundaries into federal law rather than leaving them subject to the interpretations of whichever commissioners control the agencies.
CLARITY Would Still Change the Equation
Thirteen regulatory moves do not equal an act of Congress.
The SEC and CFTC can interpret statutes, grant exemptions, issue regulations within delegated authority, and explain how existing laws apply to new technology.
They cannot independently rewrite the boundaries Congress established.
Atkins himself has described congressional legislation as “indispensable” for creating durable crypto rules.
There is also a durability problem.
A Commission interpretation can be reconsidered. Temporary exemptions expire. Proposed regulations can change. Staff guidance can carry no independent legal force at all.
Federal legislation is harder to reverse.
That leaves Congress and regulators working on different layers of the same problem.
CLARITY could eventually establish the statutory architecture governing SEC and CFTC authority. But while lawmakers negotiate that architecture, regulators are already deciding how staking works, where tokenized stocks can trade, how DeFi interfaces are treated and how crypto enters regulated derivatives markets.
Congress may still draw the permanent map for US crypto. The SEC and CFTC are already building the roads.
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The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Dr. Guneet Kaur is a senior editor at CCN.com and a Science Fellow at Exponential Science. She is a fintech and blockchain expert with extensive experience in digital finance education, blockchain ecosystems, and cryptocurrency markets. She has worked with global media such as Cointelegraph, as well as education and blockchain platforms, to design and lead strategic content and learning initiatives. As an educator and assessor for top-tier executive programs, she bridges real-world fintech trends with academic insight.
Dr. Kaur is also a published researcher and peer reviewer across fintech and data science journals, including Financial Innovation Journal and International Journal of Big Data Intelligence and Applications. Her work spans data-driven analysis, Web3 innovation, and technical content development. With a strong foundation in both industry and academia, she translates complex financial technologies into practical applications, empowering learners, professionals, and institutions across the rapidly evolving digital finance landscape.
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