CFTC Pushes Ahead With Independent Crypto Rules After Senate Blocks CLARITY Act

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is accelerating efforts to craft digital-asset regulations using its existing authority after the CLARITY Act failed to clear the Senate.

Bloomberg reported on September 18 that the CFTC submitted a new proposed rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget to govern digital-asset transactions and markets.

The proposal, titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets," was received on September 17 and is now under review.

The move appears to have come immediately after the CLARITY Act failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate this week. On September 15, the Senate rejected a motion to proceed with consideration of the bill in a 49-50 vote.

The contents of the proposal have not been disclosed. But CFTC Commissioner Michael Selig previously said he had instructed staff to develop ways to formalize the digital-asset market structure using the agency's existing authority under current law, separate from congressional legislation.