Trump agencies to set crypto policy as bill stalls, limiting industry’s gains

BusinessScience & TechnologyTrump agencies to set crypto policy as bill stalls, limiting industry's gainsBy Reuters -Aug 18, 2026Add ARY News on GoogleAAResizeAs sweeping U.S. crypto legislation stalls, President Donald Trump’s regulators are set to fill the void, but efforts to write favorable rules for the digital asset industry ​will be contentious and could be overturned by future administrations. Deep-pocketed crypto companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over several years campaigning for legislation they say will put ‌them on solid legal ground, but that effort is now stalled, with little time for lawmakers to reach a deal before the new Congress next year. That impasse has put the onus on Trump’s crypto-friendly regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to give the industry the regulatory clarity it has long argued it lacks. The SEC has been working in parallel on a rule to exempt certain token offerings from securities rules, which the agency is ​expected to advance in coming weeks. The CFTC, meanwhile, will discuss crypto regulation, among other issues, at an industry gathering this week, its website says. “The agencies … seemingly are ready to ​act, given that Congress has been unwilling or unable to do so,” said Miller Whitehouse-Levine, CEO of the Solana Policy Institute, which advocates for policies ⁠to advance digital asset technology. FEARS OF REGULATORY REVERSAL Still, only Congress can create a lasting framework, industry experts say. The Clarity Act aims to define which tokens qualify as securities versus commodities, and which agencies ​have oversight of the sector. Without legislation, regulations will be vulnerable to the shifting political climate and court challenges, creating lingering hazards for the crypto industry, said executives and analysts. The Trump administration’s own extensive ​rollback of dozens of SEC and consumer watchdog policies introdu...