The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sent a proposed crypto-asset rulemaking package to the White House for review, beginning a federal clearance process that could let the derivatives regulator build a market framework without waiting for Congress to pass a comprehensive digital-asset law.
The filing, titled “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets,” was submitted Thursday to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the White House office within the Office of Management and Budget that reviews significant federal regulations before publication. The CFTC declined to disclose the proposal’s contents or comment on its expected timetable.
The submission gives procedural weight to the CFTC’s stated plan to use its existing authority after the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, legislation that would have created a broader statutory framework for digital-asset market oversight. The bill fell seven votes short of the 60 needed to move forward in a procedural vote Tuesday.
CFTC turns to existing market authority
CFTC Chair Michael Selig had previously indicated that the agency would not wait indefinitely for Congress. In an August speech, Selig said he had directed agency staff to examine how developers could make protocols available under the agency’s rules and to develop a framework that would “codify a CFTC market structure for crypto assets using the agency’s existing authorities.”
That approach could bring more crypto trading activity into regulatory categories already used in derivatives markets. Selig said the CFTC was considering whether existing registrants and some non-registered crypto trading venues could be designated as a form of designated contract market, or DCM, under a crypto-specific structure.
DCMs are currently the regulated market category used for futures and options trading. Applying a comparable designation to crypto venues could give the CFTC a route to supervise trading rules, surveillance practices, market access and compliance systems without a separate act of Congress. It would also place some leveraged or margined crypto transactions under CFTC supervision, subject to rules designed for those products, according to Selig.
The White House review does not mean the proposal has become law or that its final terms are settled. OIRA review is an internal executive-branch step that often involves interagency comments and revisions before a proposed rule is released for public feedback. Once published, a proposal would normally face a formal comment period before the CFTC could adopt a final version.
Senate deadlock leaves agencies room to act
The CFTC’s filing followed the Clarity Act’s Senate setback, which exposed how difficult it remains to secure bipartisan support for a single digital-asset statute. Democratic negotiators cited ethics concerns surrounding President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency interests as a central reason for their opposition.
Those concerns have included Trump’s ties to World Liberty Financial, a venture run by his sons, and his memecoin. Lawmakers have questioned whether a president with substantial cryptocurrency-linked wealth could influence the policy environment governing the same sector.
The political dispute has left agencies operating under statutes that were largely written before crypto markets became a major part of US finance. That does not eliminate regulatory authority, but it can produce narrower rules that focus on particular products, intermediaries or trading structures rather than a unified framework covering tokens, spot markets and platforms.
A CFTC-led framework would also sit beside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approach to tokenized securities, creating a practical division between crypto assets treated as commodities and instruments regarded as securities. The boundary between those categories has been one of the industry’s longest-running regulatory disputes.
SEC opens a path for tokenized stock trading
The SEC released an “innovation exemption” on Thursday that is intended to permit onchain trading of tokenized stocks under specified conditions. The measure offers a five-year framework for approved venues using permissioned automated pools to match or process trades.
Permissioned pools are blockchain-based trading arrangements in which participation is limited to approved parties rather than open to any wallet holder. The structure could allow tokenized equity transactions to settle onchain while retaining controls over who may trade, how assets are recorded and how platforms meet transparency and technology requirements.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the temporary measure would change how these markets operate by allowing those automated pools to process transactions. Corporate issuers would retain the ability to prevent their shares from being listed in tokenized form, according to the SEC’s framework.
Where an issuer permits tokenization, approved venues could offer around-the-clock trading and faster settlement options for buyers and sellers. The exemption does not automatically make every public stock available onchain, nor does it remove the role of regulated market operators. It creates a conditional route for platforms and issuers willing to operate within the SEC’s stated safeguards.
Developer relief narrows one compliance risk
The CFTC also issued a no-action position for software developers Thursday, saying agency staff would not recommend enforcement against qualifying developers that fail to register as introducing brokers.
An introducing broker generally solicits or accepts orders for commodity interests but does not take customer funds. The CFTC’s position could reduce a registration concern for developers whose software interacts with trading-related activity, provided they meet the conditions set by the agency.
Taken together, the CFTC filing, its developer guidance and the SEC’s tokenized-stock exemption show regulators moving from broad policy debates toward concrete market categories: trading venues, leveraged activity, settlement systems and software providers. Congress could still change that direction through legislation, but federal agencies are now developing rules that may shape how US crypto and tokenized-asset markets operate well before a comprehensive bill clears the Senate.
For deeper context on shifting oversight, explore how US crypto regulation could evolve and impact traders.
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