CFTC joins SEC in proposing crypto framework after failed CLARITY vote

CFTC Chair Michael Selig outlined a new regulatory approach for crypto firms at the Fordham Law Blockchain Regulatory Symposium, saying the agency will proceed with rules under its existing statutory powers rather than await congressional action. In written remarks, Selig said the commission has issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking dubbed CTX aimed at firms that let retail customers trade crypto assets on a margined, leveraged, or financed basis. Selig also proposed creating a new designated contract market (DCM) category called a crypto asset market (CAM). That designation would give qualifying exchanges a route to register with the CFTC and operate under national oversight, providing an alternative to the patchwork of state-level rules, he said. The chair framed the plan as codifying a pathway for exchanges to choose CFTC oversight using authorities previously exercised through enforcement actions. The CFTC proposal would not seek to bring ordinary spot crypto exchanges—typically governed by state money-transmission laws—under this regime, though Selig noted the agency would retain its anti-fraud and anti-manipulation enforcement authority over spot trading. The announcement follows the Senate's failure to pass the CLARITY Act, a bill that had been expected to clarify and expand CFTC authority over certain crypto market activities. The Securities and Exchange Commission has separately pushed forward: earlier this year the SEC proposed a tailored securities offering regime for crypto assets. Selig said President Donald Trump instructed regulators to deliver a crypto market structure with or without new legislation. Observers including ProChain Capital's David Tawil commented that opponents of CLARITY may not have anticipated the executive branch acting in the legislature's absence. Both agencies, however, are operating with thin leadership: Selig is the CFTC's sole commissioner and chair, and the SEC recently saw Commissioner Hester Peirce depart, leaving two commissioners in office while the White House has said it plans to nominate replacements.