CFTC Files Crypto Market Rule for White House Review — SkimNews
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- CFTC filed a regulatory action titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Sept. 17, days after the Senate's Sept. 15 failure to advance the CLARITY Act.
- The filing is listed at the "prerule" stage, signaling an early phase of rulemaking where the regulation has not yet been formally proposed, and does not disclose specific contents.
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig posted on X the day after the Senate vote that the agency was "locked in and ready to ship" crypto market rules under its existing statutory authority, and had directed staff to explore creating a "crypto asset market" category of designated contract market for leveraged and margined crypto trading.
- SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the securities regulator would move ahead "with or without legislation," and the SEC simultaneously announced temporary exemptions for platforms facilitating onchain trading of tokenized securities.
- On Sept. 16, the CFTC also issued a no-action position for providers of passive software, complementing its White House filing.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on X on Sept. 15 that the SEC and CFTC had "the tools they need to create clear rules under existing authority" and that "clarity is coming to crypto regardless."
Why it matters: The CFTC filing arrived two days after the CLARITY Act's Sept. 15 Senate defeat, confirming both the CFTC and SEC are pivoting from a legislative path to rulemaking under existing statutory authority — a shift Selig previewed at an Aug. 20 Innovation Advisory Committee conference. Crypto exchanges like Coinbase, whose CEO publicly endorsed the agencies' existing tools, are now the direct stakeholders awaiting the formal proposal stage.
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