CFTC Kicks Off Crypto Rulemaking, Bypassing a Stalled Congress

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has initiated formal rulemaking on digital-assets by sending a prerule called "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. A prerule is an early procedural filing that begins the administrative review process; OIRA vetting normally precedes public release of rule texts, and the agency has not yet published the proposed language. The timing underscored the agency's intent to craft a derivatives-focused regulatory framework independently after the Clarity Act failed to clear a Senate cloture vote. That stalled bill would have set federal rules for digital assets and divided oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission. With the legislation falling short of the 60 votes required to advance, the CFTC's prerule signals it will move forward without waiting for Congress to enact new statutory guidance. Regulators have been active on multiple fronts in recent days. The Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a so-called "innovation exemption" to permit qualifying venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks on blockchain networks without registering as national exchanges, and the CFTC issued no-action relief for certain software providers, including crypto wallet apps, to provide access to regulated derivatives without registering as introducing brokers. Both agencies have framed their rulemaking and relief efforts as interim measures while legislative options remain unresolved. Treasury and other officials have previously suggested agency rulemaking would serve as a fallback if legislation stalls, making the CFTC's prerule a concrete step toward a regulatory timetable for U.S. crypto markets. Because the prerule text is not yet public, the specifics of the proposed requirements, scope, and timeline remain unclear pending OIRA review and subsequent public notice-and-comment steps.