CFTC files crypto asset rulemaking with White House, pressing ahead without Congress

CFTC files crypto asset rulemaking with White House, pressing ahead without Congress Quick Take - The CFTC filed “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets” with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. - Federal agencies are plowing ahead on their own after the Clarity Act. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission isn't sitting idle — the agency has sent its crypto rulemaking to the White House for review. On Thursday, the agency filed "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a division within the Office of Management and Budget that reviews federal regulations before publication. The CFTC declined to comment on details about the proposed rulemaking. Federal agencies are plowing ahead on their own after the Clarity Act — a sweeping bill that would have comprehensively regulated the digital asset industry at the federal level for the first time — failed in the Senate during a procedural vote on Tuesday. Key Democratic negotiators cited ethics concerns as their main reason for opposing the bill. Trump's crypto wealth — now estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, tied to World Liberty Financial, the venture run by his sons, and his memecoin — has raised questions among lawmakers about how much sway he holds as his administration writes the rules. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its long-anticipated "innovation exemption" to make room for the onchain trading of tokenized stocks. On Thursday, the CFTC also issued a "no-action position" for software developers, saying it would not recommend enforcement action against them for not registering as introducing brokers if certain conditions are met. CFTC Chair Michael Selig has previously said he would "utilize its existing authorities to begin establishing a regime for crypto asset markets" if the Clarity Act stalls. In a speech in August, Selig said he directed his staff to look into ways developers can offer protocols and said the CFTC was looking into rules to "codify a CFTC market structure for crypto assets using the agency’s existing authorities." "This could enable current registrants as well as non-registrant crypto exchanges to be designated by the CFTC as a type of DCM known as a crypto asset market and offer crypto asset trading on a leveraged or margined basis subject to purpose-fit rules under the CFTC’s regulatory oversight," Selig said in August.