CFTC Advances Crypto Rules After Senate Bill Fails
The CFTC submitted a new crypto rulebook to the White House following the collapse of the Clarity Act in the Senate.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission submitted a new crypto rulebook to the White House for review. This action occurred days after the Clarity Act failed to pass the Senate. The agency is moving forward with its own regulatory framework. It will not wait for congressional legislation to proceed.
The filing is titled Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets. It was sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This is the White House office that vets federal rules before release. The specific provisions remain unclear because the text has not been made public.
Senate vote fails to advance bill
The Clarity Act required sixty votes to advance in the Senate. It did not reach that threshold. Senator Cynthia Lummis called the chances of passing the bill this year all but dead. Other lawmakers still intend to push the bill forward. The midterm elections are approaching and the legislative calendar is shortened.
The bill would have established federal rules for digital assets. It would have split oversight between the CFTC and the SEC. The failure of the vote creates a regulatory gap. Regulators are now acting independently to fill that gap.
SEC rolls out innovation exemption
The SEC released an innovation exemption this week. It allows qualifying venues to trade tokenized US stocks on blockchain networks. These venues do not need to register as national exchanges. This move follows the failure of the market structure bill.
The CFTC also issued no-action relief for software providers. This includes crypto wallet apps. They can now offer access to regulated derivatives. They do not need to register as introducing brokers.
Agency rulemaking serves as fallback
Regulators described their push as a bridge toward eventual legislation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to agency rulemaking as the fallback. This is the nearest thing to a regulatory timeline for US crypto markets. GN auto markets and crypto regulation sources confirm the agencies are acting with urgency.
