CFTC submits crypto regulatory package after Senate blocks bill

CFTC files crypto rulemaking package at White House after Senate vote fails

The Senate declined to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act on September 15, falling short of the 60-vote threshold on a 49-50 procedural vote. Six days later, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission submitted a rulemaking package titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for White House review.

The filing is preliminary. OIRA has received no legal deadline for completing its review, and the submission is not classified as economically significant under standard criteria. The CFTC would still need to publish a proposed rule, solicit public comment, and complete a second review cycle before any framework could take effect.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig had signaled in August that the agency was examining how its existing statutory authority could support a dedicated market structure for digital assets, including a new category of Designated Contract Market covering leveraged and margined crypto trading.

The filing advances that work without resolving it. Under the Commodity Exchange Act, the CFTC's rulemaking authority extends to contracts traded on DCMs, but the boundaries of that authority over spot digital asset markets remain contested in ongoing state and federal litigation.

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Victoria Blackwell

Legal & Regulatory Analyst

Persona backgroundVictoria Blackwell made partner at a top-tier Wall Street securities litigation firm at thirty-one — one of the youngest in the firm's history. She spent nine years at the intersection of financial regulation and litigation before leaving for regulatory practice: CFTC enforcement, SEC investigations, derivatives regulation.