August 2025 Public Policy Update

It’s August, which means Congress is in recess and lawmakers are back home to meet with their constituents. While there is a break from the typical schedule, CFP Board’s public policy team is still hard at work advancing the organization’s public policy priorities and will soon be hitting the road traveling across the country. If you plan to attend the NAPFA, NASAA and PIABA conferences in the coming months, please let us know. We’d love to say hello and properly introduce ourselves.

Threat of an Autumn Shutdown Looms

After Congress returns from its month-long break on September 2, lawmakers will focus on must-pass items, such as government funding. Congress has until the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) to pass legislation to fund the federal government or face a potential partial government shutdown. As in the past, this can be averted with a short-term funding patch called a continuing resolution (CR), which allows the government to temporarily operate at the current fiscal year’s funding levels, barring any substantive changes. While Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, any spending bill needs at least 60 votes to pass the Senate, so final appropriations bills, as well as a potential CR, would need bipartisan support to be enacted. 

Continued Focus on Crypto Assets

Last month, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act, which establishes a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value relative to a reference asset (such as the U.S. dollar). Still on the table are the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 or CLARITY Act, which cleared the House in mid-July with a 294-134 vote (with 78 House Democrats joining all Republicans to support it), and a Senate discussion draft called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act. Both bills would provide a framework for a broader range of digital assets and aim to define digital commodities, as well as clarify the roles of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as regulators.

The SEC also unveiled “Project Crypto” at the end of July intended to revise disclosure, custody and market structure rules for digital assets, which is aligned with President Trump’s priorities. The project includes initiatives that establish a regulatory framework for the distribution of crypto assets and purpose-fit disclosures, exemptions and safe harbors for crypto asset transactions that are subject to the securities law.

The announcement came a day after the White House released “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” a 166-page report on crypto assets in response to President Trump’s January 23, 2025, Executive Order (EO) on the same topic. In the report, the White House weighed in with recommendations for crypto market structure, including:

• Protect and promote the ability of citizens and private-sector entities to access and use public blockchain networks, participate in mining and validating, transact with others, and maintain self-custody of digital assets;
• Promote the sovereignty of the U.S. dollar, specifically through the development of dollar-backed stablecoins;
• Protect and promote fair and open access to banking services;
• Provide regulatory clarity and certainty with technology-neutral regulations and frameworks that account for emerging technologies to support innovation in digital assets, blockchains and distributed ledger technologies (DLT); and
• Prevent the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

While there is universal recognition of the need for crypto asset regulation, many are concerned about the role of existing securities and commodities law, ensuring investor protections, maintaining financial stability, and the role of digital assets in illicit activities.

Notable Federal, State and SRO Regulatory News

On August 7, President Trump signed “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” an executive order marking a significant shift in retirement policy. The EO directs federal action to expand access to alternative assets for participants in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans. The EO states that while such assets are commonly available to wealthy individuals and public pension plans, most retirement plan participants lack similar opportunities. The EO defines “alternative assets” to include private equity, real estate and digital assets; clarifies fiduciary duties related to alternative asset investments; and considers the use of safe harbors. The EO also instructs the Department of Labor (DOL) to coordinate with the SEC and other regulators to advance these policy objectives, including potential revisions to rules governing accredited investor and qualified purchaser status.

Meanwhile, key DOL nominees await Senate confirmation, including Daniel Aronowitz, who has been nominated to head the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. The lack of confirmed leadership hasn’t hindered the Trump administration’s policy work, but it has affected litigation against the agency. An appeal of litigation filed against the DOL that paused the Retirement Security Rule has been repeatedly stayed to allow the DOL to determine how to proceed once a nominee has been confirmed.