CFTC Advances Crypto Market Rules After CLARITY Act Stalls In Senate
A Formal Step After The Senate Vote
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has submitted a crypto market structure rulemaking to the White House for review, two days after the Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act.
The Senate blocked the bill in a 49-50 cloture vote on September 15, 2026, 11 votes short of the 60 needed to proceed.
The CLARITY Act would have drawn a statutory line between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission over which digital assets each agency oversees.
Two days later, on September 17, the CFTC sent a filing titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), under reference RIN 3038-AF80, according to a report from The Defiant.
OIRA's public listing confirms the filing but does not disclose the proposal's contents.
Using Existing Authority While Congress Stalls
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said in August that the agency would use its existing authority under the Commodity Exchange Act to build a crypto market regime if the CLARITY Act stalled, and he repeated that position the day after the Senate vote.
The filing is classified at the "prerule" stage, meaning OIRA has ten working days to review it rather than the 90 days given to a full proposed rule.
Before any rule takes effect, the proposal still needs to clear OIRA review, win a Commission vote and go through public comment, a process that could stretch well into 2027.
The development is relevant to iGaming operators active in prediction markets and crypto-linked betting sites, an area where U.S. regulatory clarity has been a recurring flashpoint this year.
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