As Congress returns from recess, a pair of empty regulator benches at the SEC and CFTC is emerging as an unexpected obstacle in the push to advance the Clarity Act — raising fresh questions about whether either agency can deliver meaningful crypto rules if the Senate’s cloture vote stalls.

At the heart of market structure legislation is the process for determining when a digital asset is a security or a commodity. That’s why agriculture committees in both chambers have had the pen on drafting the landmark legislation, alongside the financial and banking committees.

Yet the corresponding regulatory bodies are down key members of leadership and have no Democrats in their ranks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is about to become a commission of two when Commissioner Hester Peirce retires in November, leaving only Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda.

Since last December, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has operated with Chairman Michael Selig as its sole member.

CFTC’s Lone Commissioner Faces House Scrutiny

The CFTC’s oversight of digital assets includes ETFs, perpetuals, prediction........

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