U.S. Crypto Legislation Stalls as SEC and CFTC Take Over Rulemaking
Nashnova编辑部
The FIT21 Act is stuck in the Senate with dim prospects. The SEC and CFTC are now moving to fill the gap with their own crypto rules — but executive-branch regulations can be reversed the moment a new administration takes office, leaving the industry's legal certainty unresolved.
Why is Congress stuck?
The FIT21 Act — a bill designed to draw a clear line between which tokens count as securities and which as commodities — is stalled in the Senate with little chance of passing.
This means → the one thing the crypto industry needs most — a durable regulatory framework — will not come from Congress any time soon.
Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, put it bluntly: "Given Congress's inability or unwillingness to act, regulators appear ready to step in."
What are the two regulators doing?
The SEC is advancing a rule to exempt certain token offerings from securities-registration requirements, expected within weeks.
The CFTC has already approved perpetual Bitcoin futures — a high-leverage derivative with no expiration date — and industry executives expect it to open perpetual futures to more assets.
In plain terms = one agency is lowering the bar for issuing tokens, the other is expanding what can be traded. Short-term, both moves favor the industry.
Why are executive rules "unreliable"?
The core risk: executive rules can be reversed with a change of administration. The Trump administration's own mass rollback of Biden-era SEC and consumer-protection policies already proves the point.
Josh Riezman, chief legal and strategy officer at crypto trading firm GSR, warned: "When the next administration comes in, we could very well face a Gensler 2.0 scenario."
This reflects a deeper reality — executive rules deliver not "legal certainty" but "political-cycle certainty," valid only as long as the sitting president remains in office.
Could Democrats and Wall Street block the process?
Democrats broadly support a crypto regulatory framework but want stricter safeguards on anti-money-laundering, anti-fraud, and conflicts of interest.
Polls suggest Democrats could retake the House in the November midterms, giving them greater power to scrutinize these rules.
Traditional Wall Street firms also strongly oppose parts of the SEC's and CFTC's crypto agenda. This means → the rulemaking process will face pushback from both sides, with each camp looking for a brake pedal.
What would actually settle this?
The industry consensus is clear: only Congressional legislation can establish a durable regulatory framework.
Even the CFTC spokesperson acknowledged the FIT21 Act is "critical" and urged Congress to seize the moment to write "enduring" rules.
In plain terms = the regulators themselves know executive rules are a stopgap. The real answer still sits with Congress.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.