CFTC Sends Crypto Market Rules to White House as Congress Stalls

The CLARITY Act is intended to establish a US market structure for digital assets and clarify how oversight is divided between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Its fate matters to token classification, trading-platform supervision and compliance obligations across the crypto industry. Supporters view legislation as a more durable way to end years of uncertainty over which agency governs different parts of the market.

With the bill’s prospects of passage fading, the SEC and CFTC are moving to develop crypto rules under their existing authorities. Industry experts caution that agency regulations would offer less lasting certainty than an act of Congress because a future administration or reconstituted commission could reverse them, while courts could also narrow or invalidate the measures. The emerging CLARITY-free approach may provide near-term guidance but leave companies exposed to another shift in US policy.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, or H.R. 3633, is intended to divide oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, giving the derivatives regulator a broader role in spot crypto markets. The House passed the bill 294-134 on July 17, 2025, but Senate talks have bogged down over ethics restrictions, stablecoin rewards and protections for decentralized finance. Legislation would provide a more durable framework than agency rules, which could face court challenges or reversal by future administrations.

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said on Aug. 20, 2026, that he had directed staff to explore crypto market-structure rules and would order formal proposals if Congress failed to advance CLARITY. The framework could address registered exchanges, leveraged or margined trading on some unregistered platforms, and legal pathways for on-chain financial protocols. Selig said legislation remained the surest route, but the agency would use its existing statutory authority if necessary, as the Senate targets a procedural vote in mid-September after returning from its August recess.

U.S. cryptocurrency oversight has long remained murky, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission vying for the lead role. The CLARITY Act before Congress seeks to establish clear market-structure rules and resolve enforcement disputes once and for all. Its passage will directly affect whether the United States retains influence over the global digital-asset financial system and prevents domestic companies from moving abroad because of regulatory uncertainty.

CFTC Acting Chairman Selig recently warned that regulators would write their own rules to fill the legal void if Congress fails to pass the CLARITY Act before its August recess this year. He said such an outcome would cost the United States its authority to set cryptocurrency rules and force U.S. companies to operate under overseas frameworks such as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA.