CFTC's Selig: we'll write crypto rules if the Clarity Act dies

CFTC Chair Michael Selig told the crypto industry on Thursday that the agency has a fallback plan: if the Clarity Act dies in the Senate, the CFTC will use the authority it already holds to build a crypto market structure regime on its own, Unchained reported. Selig made the remarks at the inaugural meeting of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee.

He said he has directed staff to explore rules creating a new crypto asset market registration category, modeled on the agency's existing designated contract markets. Current CFTC registrants and crypto exchanges sitting outside the regulatory perimeter today could fall under that new category and offer leveraged or margin trading under rules built specifically for crypto. Selig also told staff to start talking directly with developers building on-chain finance protocols about how they can operate legally inside the US.

• Committee meeting: inaugural session of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee
• New registration category modeled on: existing designated contract markets
• Also planned: amendments to how contract markets list event contracts
• Also planned: new consumer protection standards for crypto traders
• Timing: two days after the SEC's own Regulation Crypto Assets proposal landed

The stakes for exchanges are concrete. Platforms that currently offer crypto derivatives or margin products without a CFTC registration operate in a legal grey zone, unable to advertise regulatory approval and exposed to enforcement risk if the agency's posture shifts. A dedicated registration category would give them a defined path to compliance instead, spelling out capital requirements, custody rules, and disclosure standards built for crypto rather than borrowed wholesale from traditional futures markets. For US traders, that could mean access to leveraged crypto products from domestic, regulated venues rather than offshore exchanges operating outside US jurisdiction entirely.

Selig framed the fallback as second-best, not a substitute for legislation. Rules built on existing agency authority can be reversed by the next administration, and he pointed to that gap as the reason the industry has pushed for a statute rather than agency action, arguing legislation is the surest way to stop a future SEC chair from repeating the enforcement campaign Gary Gensler ran against crypto firms.

The remarks landed two days after the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, its own first major piece of crypto rulemaking, and a day after SEC Chair Paul Atkins said alongside President Trump that getting the Clarity Act to the president's desk remains the top regulatory priority. The pattern is the same one that's driven the SEC's own moves this week: regulators building their own paths forward while Congress stays stuck.

The bill's fate still sits with the Senate, where it faces a final three-week legislative window this year after stalling repeatedly through the summer. Lawmakers from both parties, mostly Democrats, say the current draft hasn't answered their objections, and one open question looms largest over the negotiations: whether the White House will accept a revised ethics provision floated by Senators Ruben Gallego and Thom Tillis, the same ethics fight that has kept the bill stuck for months.

This piece is informational, not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset.