# Regulators rush to write crypto rules as Clarity Act stalls

> After a Senate vote fails, the SEC and CFTC move to regulate digital assets using existing authority while states fight for a role.
- Title: Regulators rush to write crypto rules as Clarity Act stalls
- Summary: After a Senate vote fails, the SEC and CFTC move to regulate digital assets using existing authority while states fight for a role. U.S. regulators are…
- Keywords: clarity act, cryptocurrency regulation, sec, cftc, senate banking committee, digital assets, state attorneys general, crypto industry, business, finance, Regulators, rush
- Source: CNBC — https://cnbc.com/2026/09/22/clarity-act-crypto-rules-regulators.html
- Author: Talia Kaplan
- Published: 2026-09-22T20:22:42+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: clarity act, cryptocurrency regulation, sec, cftc, senate banking committee, digital assets, state attorneys general, crypto industry, business, finance
## Senate stalls crypto rulebook
The Clarity Act, a comprehensive set of proposed rules for digital assets, failed to advance in the Senate, leaving a regulatory void.
## SEC moves fast on tokenized stocks
Just two days after the Clarity Act failed, the Securities and Exchange Commission expanded its crypto rulebook under existing authority, creating a temporary pathway for trading tokenized stocks.
## CFTC submits its own proposal
The same day, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission submitted a crypto rulemaking proposal to the White House for review, though details were not made public.
## Industry wants regulatory certainty
Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association and former CFTC commissioner, said clear rules will reduce uncertainty and open the industry to more investment and integration with traditional finance.

> Having the regulators provide some sort of certainty is going to really open up the industry to more investment, more integration into traditional finance, and really grow the sector.
## Coinbase CEO calls for action
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC after a failed Senate procedural vote on September fifteenth: "At this point, I don't think we can wait on Congress and the Senate."

> At this point, I don't think we can wait on Congress and the Senate.
## CFTC chair backs agency action
CFTC Chair Michael Selig said on September sixteenth that President Trump promised to deliver a future-proof crypto asset regulatory market structure, and the agency will help using existing statutory authorities.

> President Trump promised to deliver a future-proof crypto asset regulatory market structure one way or the other, and we will help him get the job done using our existing statutory authorities.
## States oppose Clarity Act
In a September fourteenth letter, a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general urged the Senate Banking Committee to oppose the Clarity Act, arguing it displaces states' abilities to regulate securities markets.

> We write to urge the Senate to expressly preserve the police powers of the states and ensure that the states remain armed with the tools necessary to protect the American people from predatory scammers.
## Federal regulation seen as better
Aaron Klein, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution and former Senate banking committee staff member, said capital market regulation needs to be done at the federal level, though states have authority to stop fraud.

> Capital market regulation, I think, needs to be done at the federal level.
## Path to reconsider remains open
Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, revised his vote to oppose the Clarity Act, allowing him to bring a motion to reconsider the legislation in the Senate.
## Key takeaway

U.S. regulators are moving to fill a regulatory void in cryptocurrency after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate, with the SEC and CFTC using existing authority to write rules.