Two US crypto rulemakings are moving at the same time. They are not at the same place in the pipeline, and the difference matters more than the headlines suggest. The SEC's Regulation Crypto Assets is a proposed rule. It was published in the Federal Register on 21 August, runs 146 pages, and the comment file closes on 20 October. The text is public, the questions are numbered, and anyone who wants the record to reflect their view has about a month left to put it there. The CFTC package arrived at OIRA on 17 September under RIN 3038-AF80. The public listing gives a title, a received date, and a stage: prerule. The contents stay confidential while executive review runs. Prerule means a proposed rule still has to follow, with its own publication and its own comment period, before anything binds. So one is a document you can read and respond to today. The other is confirmation that a document exists. Both were reported in the same register. The practical difference is what you can plan against. A proposed rule gives you text to model compliance work on, even knowing it will change. A prerule filing gives you a direction and nothing to build to.