SEC Chair Backs "Clarity Act" Push, Says Crypto Rulemaking Will Proceed Either Way

SEC Chair Paul Atkins called on Congress to move quickly on the crypto market-structure legislation known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, while stressing the agency will press ahead with its crypto agenda regardless of whether the bill becomes law. "Congress should vote to advance the Clarity Act and send it to the president's desk as soon as possible," Atkins said Monday in a keynote address at a Solana Policy Institute event in Washington. "But let me be equally clear: with or without that legislation, this administration will deliver for American investors and technological innovators." The Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote Tuesday afternoon U.S. Eastern time on a motion to proceed to the bill, a procedural gauge of whether the sweeping measure has sufficient support to advance. Atkins used much of his remarks to outline the SEC's regulatory effort under "Project Crypto," pointing to three initiatives he said would shape how digital assets are issued, transferred and held in the U.S. First, he highlighted the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, calling it one of the commission's most significant attempts to modernize securities rules for crypto. If adopted, Atkins said, the framework would give entrepreneurs clearer footing to raise capital in the U.S. using digital assets, instead of having to "guess what the law is as they go." Second, he pointed to an overhaul of transfer agent rules to incorporate blockchains as digital ownership ledgers. Atkins said the rules have not been meaningfully updated in roughly four decades and were designed for paper stock certificates, even as transfer agents are already adjusting to a market increasingly shaped by tokenized assets. Third, Atkins said he has asked SEC staff to craft a proposal clarifying crypto custody requirements for investment advisers and regulated funds. Under certain conditions, the proposal would allow advisers to custody crypto directly and to use state trust companies as custodians. He said self-custody may be necessary because qualified third-party custodians do not yet exist for some assets, while state trust companies already offer an approach that "works in practice." Together, Atkins described the initiatives as "three pillars of a single, rational, and comprehensive regulatory architecture." He added that "the SEC should not be the last institution to notice that the world actually has changed." The renewed push for a Senate vote comes as the Clarity Act faces unresolved disputes heading into Tuesday's procedural test. Eight banking groups, including the American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute and Independent Community Bankers of America, urged Senate leaders Monday to tighten restrictions on stablecoin interest and rewards, arguing the current approach could still spur deposit flight and curb lending. A separate coalition of 18 attorneys general from states and the District of Columbia warned that the bill, as written, could weaken their ability to pursue crypto-related fraud and urged senators to oppose it unless those authorities are preserved. Market expectations also cooled. By Monday afternoon, Polymarket bettors put the odds at 17% that the crypto market-structure bill becomes law in 2026, giving back most of an earlier rise to about 30%.