Key Takeaways
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said the agency will write crypto market structure rules using its existing authority if the CLARITY Act stalls in Congress.
Selig directed staff to build a "crypto asset market" category modeled on the CFTC's designated contract markets, and to help on-chain protocols find legal footing.
The CLARITY Act failed to get a Senate vote before the August recess and faces a final three-week window that needs 60 votes.
The head of the agency that oversees much of the US crypto market said Thursday that if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act, he will write crypto rules without it. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig made the comment at the first meeting of the agency's Innovation Advisory Committee.
If the bill keeps stalling, Selig said, "the CFTC will utilize its existing authorities" to begin building a regime for crypto markets. He said he has directed staff to explore rules that would create a "crypto asset market" category for firms, modeled on the CFTC's existing designated contract markets, and to work with developers of on-chain finance protocols on legal ways to operate in the United States.
The move comes as Washington runs two tracks at once. The SEC proposed its first major crypto rule this week, and the CLARITY Act, the market structure bill the industry has pushed for two years, failed to get a Senate vote before the August recess. It faces a final three-week window and still needs 60 votes.
Selig framed the agency route as a backup, not a replacement, and said passing CLARITY remains the surest path. Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse, whose company spent years fighting the SEC, told the same meeting that leadership makes the difference. The most notable part of this is the timing, a sitting regulator publicly preparing to fill a gap Congress has not closed.
The CFTC's position runs parallel to the SEC's own Regulation Crypto Assets proposal and to the August vote and September timeline the newsroom has tracked. Whether the rules come from Congress or the agencies, the framework is getting written either way.
People Also Ask
What did CFTC Chairman Mike Selig say about crypto rules?
That if the CLARITY Act stalls, the CFTC will use its existing authorities to begin writing crypto market structure rules, and that he has already directed staff to start.
What is the CLARITY Act?
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a market structure bill that would set federal rules for crypto markets. It failed to get a Senate vote before the August recess.
What is a "crypto asset market" under the CFTC's plan?
A proposed regulatory category for crypto trading firms, modeled on the CFTC's existing designated contract markets, that the agency could create through its own rulemaking.
Does the CFTC still want Congress to act?
Yes. Selig called agency rules a backup and said passing the CLARITY Act remains the surest way to give crypto markets durable rules.