The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will hold an open meeting on Friday to consider whether to propose rules that would allow crypto projects to raise capital without registering securities.
A Sunshine Act notice posted on Aug. 10 says the commission will weigh a release that would create a tailored framework for certain digital-asset offerings. If the proposal is opened for public comment, it would become the agency’s first durable rule for the industry, rather than another staff statement.
An exemption-led approach to crypto oversight
The framework has been taking shape for months. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has been pushing what he calls a “Regulation Crypto Assets” approach, built around exemptions rather than enforcement actions.
In remarks delivered in March, Atkins described a startup exemption that “could last (say up to four years) and provide developers with a regulatory runway” to reach decentralization. The notice for Friday’s meeting does not spell out the fundraising thresholds tied to that exemption.
Rulemaking follows stalled legislation
The Senate left for its August recess without moving forward on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bill intended to establish a legal foundation for U.S. crypto market structure. The SEC’s rulemaking effort is being framed as the agency’s response to that delay.
After the notice was posted, TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg wrote in a client note: 「We view this as the first of several rulemakings the SEC will undertake to provide regulatory certainty for crypto assets after the Senate failed before the August recess to advance the Clarity Act.」
A formal rule would outlast staff guidance
A completed rule would be harder to reverse than the series of staff statements the SEC has issued this year. Those statements clarified the agency’s position on cryptocurrency staking, airdrops, and mining, but they do not bind the commission over the long term.
If finalized, a Reg Crypto framework would remain on the books beyond any single chair’s term. Legislation, if eventually passed and signed into law, would still carry greater permanence, which helps explain why crypto industry leaders want the Clarity Act to advance in September.
The proposed “escape hatch”
The framework under discussion would let developers raise capital for a project without triggering securities registration, so long as they step back afterward. The release is expected to offer a route out of SEC jurisdiction once founders are no longer engaged in the active management of what they built.
That is the core of the proposed escape hatch: relief would be available, but only after control has moved out of the builders’ hands.
Other crypto policy work is still moving
The SEC is also still working through other parts of its crypto agenda. That includes a joint taxonomy with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, to sort which assets fall under which regulator. The Clarity Act, meanwhile, still has a narrow chance of action next month.
On Myriad, a prediction market built by Decrypt parent company Dastan, traders are currently assigning only 22% odds to the Clarity Act passing this year.
The proposal arrives as Atkins continues to press an innovation-exemption strategy and a long-promised safe harbor for startups. SEC staff have been preparing the crypto rule package since spring.
The meeting is scheduled as an open session for Aug. 14 at 10 a.m. ET.