Trump will meet with representatives of the encryption industry and Wall Street agencies at the White House on August 19th. The United States digital asset legislation is still in the Senate, and one of the main points of this meeting was to clarify the way forward for regulation in the event that Congress is unable to move forward with a vote in the short term.

The White House meeting focused on legislation.

Reports indicate that the meeting is expected to be attended by Paul Atkins, Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Michael Selig, Chairman of the Commodity Futures and Exchange Commission (CFTC); and senior managers of Coinbase, Polymark, Ripple and Gemini. Financial market institutions such as NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, Zhibra and DTCC are also considered to participate.

In terms of the agenda, the CLARITY Bill will be one of the core issues. The bill aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets and delineates the regulatory responsibilities of SEC and CFTC at different market points.

The Senate has yet to vote

The bill was advanced by the Senate Banking Commission in May this year by 15 to 9, but has not yet entered the Senate-wide voting phase. Current differences have focused on the issue of currency stabilization incentives, consumer protection and ethical issues.

In the meantime, Congress has entered its August recess and will resume its session on September 14. This means that there is not much time left for parliamentarians to deal with the bill and that the follow-up agenda may also be influenced by medium-term electoral factors.

It was also mentioned that the proceeds of the encryption operation in Trump were also discussed. His financial disclosure documents show that revenues from the WLFI project exceeded $1.4 billion.

If the legislation continues to stagnate, the regulator or push ahead

If Congress fails to agree, the SEC and CFTC may turn to the rule-making path under the existing mandate. SEC Chairman Atkins had previously indicated that, even if Congress were deadlocked, the Commission could move the relevant rules forward on the basis of its existing competence.

It was mentioned that options might include providing a simpler path for the release of some encrypted assets and setting up the “safe harbour” option, which would allow for some development space for start-up projects without full application of traditional securities rules.

On August 20th, there was another interesting meeting of the CTC. Its Innovation Advisory Committee, which is scheduled to meet on the next day of the White House Summit, will include representatives of Coinbase, Polymarket, Ripple, NASDAQ, CME Group and DTCC.

In terms of timing, the White House summit on August 19 and the CFTC meeting on August 20 could be the first signals to see whether the US government gives priority to congressional legislation, or whether it turns to a regulatory body’s first-down rule.