The CFTC submitted a crypto market rules proposal to the White House for review after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, and separately extended a compliance shield to software providers including crypto wallets. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan pushed back on the idea that the Senate defeat threatens the 2026 crypto bull run, pointing to Bitcoin's rally toward $80,000 even as odds of the bill's passage fell.
The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission submitted a new proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Thursday, moving ahead with its own crypto market rules after the Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act earlier this week. The details of the filing were not disclosed, and it remains unclear which assets it covers or how far the CFTC believes its authority extends.
CFTC proposal follows SEC's tokenized-stock exemption
Once the OMB finishes its review, the proposal returns to the CFTC for a vote and public comment, then needs another vote to take effect. The submission came the same day the SEC issued a five-year "innovation exemption" letting qualifying platforms offer onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks without registering as securities exchanges. Both agencies have said they will keep working together on digital-asset rules under their existing authority now that the CLARITY Act has stalled.
Wallets and DeFi frontends get a compliance shield
The CFTC also issued a no-action letter extending relief that previously applied only to the wallet Phantom to any "Passive Software Provider" — frontends or wallets that route users to regulated derivatives markets without holding funds or making trade recommendations. Providers under the letter can collect transaction-based fees but cannot hold customer assets or control how orders are routed, and the relief comes with conditions on disclosures and recordkeeping. It stays in place only until the CFTC adopts formal rules or guidance on the subject.
Bitcoin's rally undercuts the case for the CLARITY Act
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan reversed a January warning that a CLARITY Act failure could stall the 2026 crypto bull run, calling the Senate's defeat "a speed bump, not a roadblock" in a memo the day after the vote. His case rests on a divergence: Bitcoin bottomed at $57,950 on July 1 and peaked above $80,000 on September 4, even as Polymarket odds of the bill passing in 2026 fell from 39% to 18% over the same stretch.
Hougan now points to SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig as the trade to watch, arguing agency rulemaking could end up more pro-crypto than the CLARITY Act itself since it does not need Democratic votes on DeFi provisions. He still acknowledges the tradeoff: agency rules can be reversed by a future administration, and Bitcoin still dropped 4% after the failed cloture vote, with $669 million in liquidations. The Senate's 49-50 cloture tally fell 11 votes short of the 60 needed to advance the bill, with every Democrat voting no.
Sources: CoinDesk, Bankless, CoinGape
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