The Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed the release of a regulatory framework for certain digital assets after White House officials raised concerns that a related rule could slow crypto legislation. The shift came as the agency was preparing to weigh two proposals at a Friday meeting, only for the session to be canceled and the framework later voted on by commissioners individually.
That delay matters now because the White House is set to put crypto back at center stage on Wednesday, when Trump hosts executives for a meeting expected to include CFTC Chair Mike Selig, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and top crypto adviser Patrick Witt. Firms including Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, Chainlink, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange are also expected, alongside trade groups such as the Digital Chamber, the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association.
The framework at issue is meant to spell out the SEC’s current approach to digital assets, while the second proposal, known as the innovation exemption, would create a separate path for some experimentation. Only the framework was set for approval. A person familiar said the regulations were still technically under review, and confusion over which rule was moving helped lead to the cancellation. The result left the SEC’s broader posture unresolved even as the measure that would lock in that approach sits stalled in the Senate.
There was also a dispute over why the meeting disappeared from the calendar. An SEC spokesperson said last week that the cancellation was the result of an unforeseen scheduling issue. But people familiar with the matter said the White House worries about the crypto bill were part of the story. They said the concern was that the innovation exemption could bog down the legislation, creating another hurdle for a package already languishing in the Senate.
The politics around the White House event help explain the sensitivity. Weeks earlier, the White House suspended its teleprompter operator after allegations that he had used Kalshi to bet on Trump’s speeches. A White House official then said prediction markets like Kalshi would not be included in the kickoff event for the CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee’s inaugural meeting, with organizers deciding to keep the gathering focused solely on crypto. A person familiar said it would be a big distraction from the larger tech and crypto agenda to have prediction markets in the room, and another described the optics as bad in the aftermath of the teleprompter problem.
CME Group is not on the attendee list because it is suing the CFTC. That omission underscores how carefully the White House is trying to stage the week’s crypto rollout: broad enough to show momentum, narrow enough to avoid side fights. For now, the SEC’s framework is still under review, the innovation exemption remains unsettled and Wednesday’s meeting is likely to be the clearest sign yet of how aggressively the administration wants to move on crypto.
