Trump urges Clarity Act passage as SEC unveils $75M crypto rules

President Donald Trump pressed Congress to pass the Clarity Act as the SEC moved ahead with $75 million crypto fundraising exemptions.

President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass the Clarity Act on Aug. 19, urging lawmakers to act as the Senate stalled over ethics provisions tied to his $1.4 billion crypto ventures.

"The SEC continues to support congressional work on the CLARITY Act, and we expect to see the bill reach the president's desk," Paul Atkins, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a recorded video Tuesday. "Under our current statutory authority, we are acting. The work before us is too important."

The SEC's proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets" framework, unveiled Tuesday, would let companies raise up to $5 million in a one-time offering over four years, or up to $75 million in any 12-month period with ongoing reporting requirements. Both exemptions require investor disclosures. The rules also include a conditional safe harbor that could let certain tokens fall outside the definition of a security, and would block states from imposing separate registration requirements on qualifying offerings. The public has 60 days to comment after publication in the Federal Register.

The proposal lands as the Clarity Act, which would establish a full legal framework for the crypto market, sits stalled in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on a motion to take up the bill, but senators have only 14 days in session after the August recess before breaking again ahead of the November election. If no floor vote happens before then, the Senate has 22 more session days before 2027, when new members are sworn in.

The $1.4 Billion Conflict at the Center of the Stalemate

The Senate fight centers on ethics provisions spurred by Trump's own involvement in digital assets. Trump reported earning $1.4 billion from crypto and memecoin-related ventures in 2025, the largest source of his income, according to his disclosure. Democrats have pressed for limits on the president's crypto businesses as a condition of passing the market structure bill, while Republicans have resisted.

The White House has sought to cement its industry-friendly regulatory gains. Trump met with executives from Coinbase Global Inc., Payward Inc. and Blockchain.com Group Holdings Inc. at the White House, and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium that regulators would "let loose" on crypto regulation if Congress could not move forward on the Clarity Act. Atkins canceled his scheduled appearance at that event as the SEC announcement landed.

What the SEC's Exemptions Change

The proposal marks the SEC's first crypto fundraising rule in 90 years, per the agency's framing, and comes after the regulator abruptly canceled an open meeting where it was expected to consider the rule. The exemptions are aimed at startups and companies in early fundraising stages, letting them raise capital without the traditional securities registration process. Issuers would still face ongoing reporting requirements under the larger exemption.

The rules do not include an "innovation exemption" for tokenized stocks, which some had expected. The SEC's move follows the Senate's failure to advance the Clarity Act before breaking for a month-long recess. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday on crypto, artificial intelligence and prediction markets, with the regulator saying it planned to address "areas where regulatory action can complement future congressional legislation."

The SEC's rulemaking gives crypto companies a path to raise capital while the Clarity Act remains in limbo, but the exemptions are narrower than the full market structure bill. If the Senate fails to hold a floor vote in its 14 session days before the election, the bill's prospects slip to a new Congress in 2027, leaving the SEC's proposal as the primary federal framework for token fundraising. Bitcoin traded at $68,476 on Aug. 19, its highest since June 1, after surging as much as 7.7% on optimism over the regulatory push.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.