The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cancelled the “Regulation Cripto” public meeting scheduled for 14 August, which was originally scheduled for voting on whether to issue a proposed rule for a partially encrypted investment contract for assets. Currently, no new dates are given.

This extension does not imply a waiver of the proposal. The spokesperson for that body indicated to Reuters that the restructuring of the meeting was due to “unforeseen calendar problems”. As of 14 August, the meeting was still marked cancelled by the SEC official network and no replacement time was indicated.

The proposal is still in the regulatory process

From the Federal Regulatory Review System, this rule is still being advanced. Reginfo.gov shows that the SEC proposal called “Crypto Assemblys” is still pending, corresponding to RIN 3235-AN38. The proposal entered the review process on 12 August, two days before the scheduled meeting.

The previously disclosed agenda of the SEC shows that there was only one issue for this meeting: whether or not to create customised distribution rules for “some investment contracts involving encrypted assets”. Even if the members had voted at that time, they would have simply initiated the rule-making process, rather than giving immediate effect to the new request.

The draft rules suggested three types of paths.

In March this year, the Chairman of the SEC, Paul Atkins, publicly presented the direction of the framework, including a temporary initial exemption, a higher exemption for financing, and a safe port for investment contracts.

According to the example he had given at the time, the initial exemption could cover a maximum of four years, approximately $5 million in size; another financing exemption might allow up to $75 million in a 12-month period. However, these figures are illustrative and are not official thresholds that have been identified.

Atkins also mentioned that one of the purposes of the safe harbour design was to make a clearer distinction between when the issuer had completed it or to permanently cease the core management behaviour associated with the investment contract.

The parliamentary bill schedule is getting more attention.

After the postponement of the SEC meeting, market attention was redirected to the Congress-level Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, filed a motion to close the debate on 7 August, advancing H.R. 3633. According to the official Senate calendar, the procedure will enter the next section on September 15th.

This means that September 15 is more like a legal procedure test than a final vote. Atkins had also previously indicated that a more complete framework of encrypted market structures still required legislative advancement by Congress. The SEC could establish rules within its existing competence, but could not give the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) all the powers envisaged in the Act.

There are two immediate points of view: when the SEC will reschedule the meeting and how the Senate will move forward on September 15th with the CIA bill. For the time being, Regulation Cripto was postponed, not cancelled.