CFTC proposes first crypto market rules after Clarity Act stalls in Senate

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is moving ahead with its first dedicated rules for crypto markets after Congress failed to advance comprehensive market structure legislation.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency is proposing two rulemakings, Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions, or Regulation CTX, and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets, or Regulation CAM, following the Senate’s failure to advance the Clarity Act.

The proposals would establish requirements for CFTC-registered exchanges that offer crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ether for trading.

Unlike the Clarity Act, however, the rules would not require crypto assets to trade on CFTC-registered platforms.

Selig said the agency does not have the authority to impose such a requirement without congressional action. Instead, the proposals are intended to create a purpose-built federal option for crypto exchanges that voluntarily choose to operate under CFTC oversight.

Those platforms could offer retail customers margined, leveraged or financed crypto trading, distinguishing them from ordinary spot exchanges and bringing them more clearly within the CFTC’s existing jurisdiction.

The move follows a joint interpretation from the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year that Selig said clarified that a broad group of crypto assets, including Bitcoin and Ether, are non-securities subject to the CFTC’s authority.

Selig framed the new approach as a break from the enforcement-heavy strategy used by regulators under the previous administration.

He argued that requiring crypto firms to fit into rules designed for traditional financial infrastructure created uncertainty and pushed some businesses offshore rather than establishing clear standards before problems emerged.

Selig pointed to the collapse of FTX as an example of the risks created by fragmented oversight. While most of FTX’s offshore and state-regulated entities entered bankruptcy, he said customer property held through its CFTC-registered subsidiary remained segregated and secure.

In his view, the episode demonstrated the value of federal market rules covering areas such as customer asset protection, conflicts of interest, manipulation and orderly trading.

State money-transmitter regimes have allowed crypto businesses to operate in the US for years, but Selig argued those frameworks were designed primarily for payments rather than financial markets and vary significantly across states.

Regulation CTX and CAM are intended to give crypto exchanges an alternative: a single federal market-regulatory framework specifically designed around the structure of crypto markets.

The CFTC’s authority remains limited without legislation. The agency cannot force spot crypto platforms into the framework or fully replace the broader market structure regime envisioned by Congress.

Selig acknowledged that agency action cannot indefinitely substitute for legislation but said the CFTC intends to move ahead with the authority it already has.

“Today’s action is just the beginning,” Selig said, adding that the agency will continue addressing gaps in crypto market structure and developing what he described as clearer rules for market participants.