Kristin Smith has a message for crypto: the rules written in the next couple of years may be the rules you live with for a long time.
The president of the Solana Policy Institute said in early October 2026 that final digital asset rules from the SEC and CFTC are likely to be difficult to reverse if they are in place before summer 2028. Congress failed to pass its own market structure bill. The agencies are now the main event.
The clock Smith is watching
Smith’s argument rests on two timelines. The first is how long agency rulemaking usually takes, which she put at roughly 18 to 24 months.
The second timeline is the Congressional Review Act. That law gives Congress only a limited window to overturn rules after agencies establish them.
Put the two together and the math gets pointed. A rulemaking that starts now and runs 18 to 24 months would land close to the summer 2028 mark Smith flagged. Once rules clear that stage and the review window passes, unwinding them becomes much harder.
She also pointed to adoption as a kind of reinforcement. In her view, once institutions start building on an established framework, the framework gets more entrenched, because ripping it out would mean disrupting businesses already operating under it.
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Why the agencies matter more now
The backdrop here is Congress coming up short. On September 15, 2026, the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate.
The bill, aimed at sorting out which parts of crypto fall under the SEC and which fall under the CFTC, needed 60 votes to move forward. It got a 49 to 50 tally instead.
The agencies have already shown they can move without new statutes. A joint SEC and CFTC interpretive release from approximately March 2026 classified several digital assets, including Solana, as digital commodities rather than securities.
Smith cited earlier wins as proof that this kind of progress can build momentum. She pointed to the GENIUS Act and to changes made to IRS broker rules as examples of policy work that paid off for the industry.
The Solana Policy Institute’s playbook
Smith’s group has not been waiting around for Congress. The Solana Policy Institute held more than 300 meetings with policymakers in 2026.
On July 9, 2026, it sent a comment letter to the CFTC. The letter pushed for exemptions for non-custodial wallet software, a framework for 24/7 compliance, and formal recognition of blockchain-based recordkeeping.
Smith began serving as interim CEO of the Blockchain Association on October 17, 2026, while keeping her role at the Solana Policy Institute.
What this means
The most immediate implication is about timing. If Smith is right, the industry’s lobbying focus should shift toward getting rules finalized quickly, not toward waiting for a better bill.
Smith is effectively saying that properly finished agency rules can be durable too, provided they beat the clock.
There is a flip side worth watching. Durability cuts both ways. If the final rules turn out less favorable than the industry hopes, the same mechanics Smith describes would make them just as sticky.
The key things to track are whether the SEC and CFTC launch formal rulemakings soon, how the CFTC responds to proposals like the Solana Policy Institute’s July letter, and whether Congress tries again on market structure. The 18 to 24 month runway leaves little room for delay if the goal is to finish before summer 2028.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.