1inch deputy general counsel Maylea Ma expects U.S. agencies to lead crypto rulemaking over the next few years, with Congress still stalled on a market-structure bill as midterm elections put control of Congress at stake.
Ma named the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Treasury as likely drivers of digital-asset policy. She said agencies have increased engagement with crypto projects, but their guidance lacks the durability of legislation.
“The long-term goal, of course, remains a statute that cannot be reversed every time a government changes,” Ma said.
The CLARITY Act, a bill focused on crypto market structure, remains stalled in Congress. The election could reshape the bill’s path, but Ma expects agencies to drive the next phase of regulation. The debate follows the SEC’s crypto guidance after the CLARITY Act vote failed.
Recent agency actions include an SEC framework for crypto fundraising proposed in August. It included exemptions for some token offerings and a safe harbor from treatment as investment contracts. In September, the SEC revised staff guidance on token repurchases, crypto networks and staking-receipt tokens.
On Sept. 17, the CFTC sent a crypto-market regulatory plan to the White House for review. The Senate had failed to advance the CLARITY Act two days earlier. These agency efforts are unfolding as the bill remains stalled.
Michael Ho, co-founder of D3, the team behind Doma Protocol, said reversible agency guidance is keeping serious capital on the sidelines. “With the market structure bill stalled, US crypto policy continues to rest on agency guidance that a future administration can reverse, and that keeps serious capital waiting,” Ho said. “Whatever the result, clear rules written into law are what will bring institutional capital into tokenized real-world assets.”
Riza Dagoc
Riza Dagoc reports on regulation, investing and the digital-asset business for TokenPost. Send corrections or tips to [email protected].
