Key Takeaways
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said the agency will use its existing statutory authority to write crypto market-structure rules after the CLARITY Act failed in the Senate.
The same day, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins proposed rescinding the shareholder proposal rule, Rule 14a-8, arguing it exceeds the SEC's statutory authority and intrudes on state law.
Both agency heads are now framing their moves around statutory authority, shifting the center of financial rulemaking from Congress to the regulators.
One day after the CLARITY Act failed in the Senate, the two agencies that oversee US markets both leaned publicly on the same idea: their own statutory authority. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said his agency will write crypto rules with the power it already has, and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins moved to pull his agency back from a rule he says goes beyond it.
The CFTC moves on crypto
Selig called the September 15 Senate outcome unfortunate and said Americans deserve regulatory clarity, legal certainty, and consumer protections in crypto markets. He said President Trump promised a future-proof crypto market structure one way or the other, and that the CFTC would help deliver it under its existing statutory authorities.
"The CFTC is locked in and ready to ship its rules."
Michael S. Selig, Chairman of the CFTC
Hours later, on September 16, the SEC proposed rescinding Rule 14a-8, the decades-old shareholder proposal rule that lets investors put measures to a company vote. The Commission said the rule exceeds the scope of its statutory authority and intrudes into matters of state law, and that rescinding it would leave those questions to state law and company governing documents. The SEC also proposed changes to Rule 14a-4(c) and a broader modernization of proxy solicitation, including shortening the broker search period from 20 business days to five.
Atkins tied the proposals to the same principle Selig invoked.
"...ensuring that the Commission's rules are within the agency's statutory authority."
Paul S. Atkins, Chairman of the SEC
One phrase, two directions
The most notable part of this is the phrase doing the work at both agencies. Statutory authority is how Selig justifies expanding into crypto and how Atkins justifies pulling back from shareholder proposals, two opposite directions built on the same argument. None of this is new in outline. WYDE reported in August that Selig said he would write the rules if CLARITY stalled, and covered the Senate's 49-50 rejection of the CLARITY Act this week.
With Congress unable to pass a market-structure law, the regulators are setting the terms, faster than legislation but easier for a future administration to unwind. Both proposals now go out for public comment, the SEC's for 60 days. The rulebook is being written at the agencies, and how far each can stretch its own authority is the open question. Worth watching.
People Also Ask
What did the CFTC say after the CLARITY Act failed?
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said the agency will use its existing statutory authority to write crypto market-structure rules, calling the Senate outcome unfortunate and the CFTC ready to ship its rules.
What is the SEC proposing to do with Rule 14a-8?
The SEC proposed rescinding Rule 14a-8, the shareholder proposal rule, arguing it exceeds the agency's statutory authority and intrudes into state corporate law, with a 60-day public comment period.
What happens to US crypto regulation now?
With the CLARITY Act failed, oversight falls to the CFTC and SEC, which are both writing rules under existing authority and have agreed to coordinate their jurisdiction.
Why does agency rulemaking differ from a law?
Regulators can write and later change rules under existing authority, while a statute passed by Congress is harder to reverse and offers more lasting certainty.
Sources
Michael Selig, Chairman of the CFTC (statement via X, September 16, 2026); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2026-89, and Chairman Paul Atkins (September 16, 2026); and CoinDesk (September 2026).