The CFTC has filed a crypto asset rulemaking with the White House for review, pressing ahead with its own authority two days after the Senate blocked the CLARITY Act. The proposal could let exchanges offer leveraged crypto trading under CFTC oversight, but it still needs a commission vote before publication.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a rulemaking titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the White House body that reviews federal regulations before publication. The CFTC declined to comment on the proposal's contents.
Regulators press ahead after Congress stalls
Regulators moved fast: the CFTC submitted the framework to OIRA on Sept. 17, two days after the Senate rejected cloture on the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act in a 49-to-50 vote, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. But seven Democratic senators who opposed the vote have said negotiations could continue, so the legislation remains unresolved rather than dead. Still, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig had already prepared for a stalled bill: in an August speech, he said the agency would "utilize its existing authorities to begin establishing a regime for crypto asset markets."
A new category of crypto exchange
Under the approach Selig outlined, the CFTC could designate both current registrants and non-registrant crypto exchanges as a type of designated contract market known as a crypto asset market, letting them offer crypto trading on a leverage– or margin-based basis under CFTC oversight. The proposal must still clear OIRA review, return to the commission for a vote, and go through public comment before any rule takes effect. Meanwhile, Selig remains the CFTC's only sitting commissioner on a body designed to hold five.
Other agencies are moving too
That same day, the SEC released its long-anticipated "innovation exemption" for onchain trading of tokenized stocks. CFTC staff separately issued a no-action position telling software developers they won't face enforcement for failing to register as introducing brokers if certain conditions are met. Democratic negotiators had cited ethics concerns, tied to Trump's crypto wealth, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars and linked to World Liberty Financial and his memecoin, as their main reason for opposing the bill.
Sources: The Block, crypto.news
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