KoinlyticsSEC Chair Paul Atkins told CNBC on July 28, 2026 that his agency is ready, willing, and able to come out with rules that address the same issues as CLARITY, signaling that the SEC can move ahead on crypto regulation even if the Senate fails to pass the bill before the August recess.
The Senate calendar problem
The Senate Banking Committee released an updated, merged CLARITY Act text on July 22, 2026. The document runs to 616 pages and attempts to codify which digital assets fall under SEC jurisdiction as securities and which move to CFTC oversight as digital commodities. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the CLARITY Act would likely not clear the chamber before the August recess.
Why the plan B statement moves markets
Atkins saying the SEC can act unilaterally does not mean the SEC will act unilaterally. But it removes one of the tail risks investors have been trading around. If CLARITY dies in the Senate, the market's prior assumption was that crypto policy would freeze until the next Congress. Atkins is signaling that assumption is wrong.
What CLARITY was designed to do that guidance cannot
The one thing the SEC cannot do alone is definitively strip itself of jurisdiction over an asset. CLARITY moves entire categories of digital assets out of the SEC's remit and into the CFTC's. Only Congress can do that with finality.
What to watch
Whether the Senate takes any procedural action on CLARITY before recess. Whether the SEC posts a proposed rule on crypto capital raising, tokenized securities, or custody in August. Whether the CFTC gets any expanded statutory authority separately.
Source: Yahoo Finance