CFTC advances crypto market rulemaking for White House review

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CFTC advances crypto market rule

Highlights

The CFTC filed “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets” with the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
The contents of the proposed rule have not been disclosed, but Chair Michael Selig previously said the agency could establish a crypto market regime using its existing authority.
The filing follows the Clarity Act’s failed Senate procedural vote and comes as the SEC and CFTC separately advance other crypto regulatory measures.

CFTC sends crypto market rule for White House review

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets” with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, according to The Block.

OIRA, which is part of the White House Office of Management and Budget, reviews federal regulations before they are published. The CFTC declined to provide details about the proposed rule, leaving its specific requirements and scope unclear.

The filing comes after the Clarity Act failed in a Senate procedural vote on Tuesday. The legislation was intended to establish a comprehensive federal framework for digital assets, but key Democratic negotiators opposed the bill while citing ethics concerns.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig had previously said the agency would use its existing authority to begin establishing a regulatory regime for crypto asset markets if the legislation stalled.

In an August speech, Selig said he had directed staff to explore rules that could create a CFTC market structure for crypto assets under existing law. One option could allow existing registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to seek designation as a type of designated contract market, or DCM, for crypto assets.

Such venues could potentially offer leveraged or margined crypto trading under rules tailored to digital asset markets and CFTC oversight. Selig also directed staff to examine ways for developers of onchain financial protocols to offer their products legally in the U.S.

U.S. regulators move ahead as Clarity Act stalls

The CFTC filing is part of a broader series of regulatory actions taking place while Congress remains divided over comprehensive crypto legislation.

On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its long-awaited innovation exemption designed to enable onchain trading of tokenized stocks. The CFTC separately issued a no-action position for software developers, saying it would not recommend enforcement action for failure to register as introducing brokers when specified conditions are met.

The developments show the SEC and CFTC continuing to use their existing powers to address individual areas of crypto markets while lawmakers have yet to approve a broader statutory framework.

Our earlier report on the SEC’s five-year Innovation Exemption and related CFTC no-action relief covered the conditions for venues offering tokenized equities and the requirements for software providers connecting users to regulated derivatives markets.

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