CFTC Submits Crypto Market Regulation Plan for White House Review After CLARITY Act Stalls

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted a new regulatory action covering crypto asset transactions and markets for White House review, advancing its approach to overseeing the digital asset sector without waiting for new legislation. According to a filing with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the action, titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets," was received on Sept. 17 and is listed at the "prerule" stage, indicating it is at an early phase of the rulemaking process and has not yet been formally proposed.

The submission comes days after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, legislation that would have established a federal regulatory framework for crypto markets. A day after the Sept. 15 vote, CFTC Chair Michael Selig posted on X that the agency was "locked in and ready to ship" rules for crypto markets using its existing statutory authority. SEC Chair Paul Atkins echoed that sentiment, stating the securities regulator would move ahead "with or without legislation." Both agencies followed through the next day: the CFTC issued a no-action position for providers of passive software, while the SEC announced temporary exemptions for certain platforms facilitating onchain trading of tokenized securities.

Selig had signaled this approach weeks earlier at the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee conference on Aug. 20, where he said the agency was prepared to use its existing authority to establish a crypto asset market regime if the CLARITY Act stalled. He directed CFTC staff to explore rules allowing existing registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to become a type of designated contract market called a "crypto asset market," where leveraged or margined crypto trading could be offered under CFTC oversight. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also weighed in after the vote, writing on X that the SEC and CFTC "have the tools they need to create clear rules under existing authority" and that he expected regulators to begin working on the issue "in earnest." "So clarity is coming to crypto regardless," Armstrong concluded.