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CFTC Crypto Market Rules Enter White House Review After CLARITY Act Setback
TL;DR
- The CFTC sent a new crypto-market regulatory action to White House review after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act.
- The action is still at the “prerule” stage, meaning no formal rule has been proposed.
- The SEC separately introduced temporary relief for certain tokenized-stock trading platforms.
- The CFTC also expanded no-action relief for qualifying passive trading software providers.
- CFTC Chair Michael Selig and SEC Chair Paul Atkins have said their agencies can continue acting under existing authority.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is moving ahead with crypto regulation after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act.
A CFTC regulatory action covering crypto-asset transactions and markets entered White House review on September 17, 2026, signaling that the agency is preparing to use its existing legal authority while broader digital-asset legislation remains stalled.
The action does not yet establish new crypto rules. It remains at an early stage of the federal rulemaking process.
CFTC Crypto Market Rules Enter White House Review
The regulatory action is titled “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets.”
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA, received it on September 17.
Its current status is:
- Agency: Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Stage: Prerule
- Legal deadline: None
- Economically significant: No
A “prerule” designation means the CFTC has not yet issued a formal proposed rule for public comment.
The filing also does not reveal the detailed requirements the CFTC may eventually propose for crypto exchanges, trading platforms, or digital assets.
If the process moves forward, the draft would return to the CFTC after White House Office of Management and Budget review. The Commission could then vote on a proposal and open it for public comment before considering a final rule.
That means the White House review is an early step, not the launch of a completed crypto regulatory framework.
What Does “Not Economically Significant” Mean?
OIRA lists the CFTC action as not economically significant.
Under the standard referenced in the filing, an economically significant regulatory action generally has an annual economic effect of at least $100 million or materially affects areas such as:
- The broader economy
- An industry sector
- Competition
- Employment
- Productivity
- Public health or safety
- State, local, or tribal governments
The classification does not indicate whether the crypto rules will be important to the industry. It refers to how the action is categorized for federal regulatory review.
CFTC Plans to Use Existing Authority for Crypto Markets
CFTC Chair Michael Selig had already outlined a potential regulatory path before the CLARITY Act stalled.
At the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee conference on August 20, Selig said the agency could use its existing authority to build a crypto asset market regime.
One option under consideration would allow existing CFTC registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to operate as a type of designated contract market called a “crypto asset market.”
Under that structure, platforms could potentially offer leveraged or margined crypto trading under CFTC oversight.
After the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, Selig said the CFTC was “locked in and ready to ship” its crypto-market rules.
The message was clear: the agency does not plan to wait indefinitely for Congress before pursuing areas it believes are already within its statutory authority.
SEC Also Moves Ahead Without New Crypto Legislation
The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a similar approach.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the regulator would continue its digital-asset work “with or without legislation.”
On September 17, the SEC issued an Innovation Exemption covering certain forms of tokenized-stock trading.
The temporary framework provides conditional relief to qualifying Tokenized Securities Venues, or TSVs, from the Exchange Act definition of an “exchange.”
It allows eligible venues to facilitate onchain trading of certain tokenized National Market System stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools.
How the SEC Tokenized Stock Exemption Works
The SEC's framework does not create unrestricted tokenized-stock trading.
Qualifying venues must meet several conditions.
Tokenized NMS stocks must provide holders with the same rights and privileges as the corresponding traditional shares.
Other requirements include:
- Issuers must receive notice when unaffiliated third parties tokenize their shares.
- Issuers must have an opportunity to object.
- Smart contracts must be public and auditable.
- Tokenized stocks must operate on a public, permissionless distributed ledger.
- Trading must stop if the underlying stock is halted on its primary exchange.
- Venues must publish disclosures about trading and affiliate activity.
The exemption also provides conditional relief from the Exchange Act's definition of a “dealer” for certain liquidity providers supplying tokenized stocks to eligible pools.
The relief is temporary and is scheduled to expire five years after publication while the SEC considers longer-term rules.
Coinbase Says Regulators Already Have Tools to Act
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also argued that regulators could make progress without waiting for Congress.
On September 15, Armstrong said the SEC and CFTC had “the tools they need to create clear rules under existing authority.”
“So clarity is coming to crypto regardless,” Armstrong wrote.
The statement reflects a broader shift following the CLARITY Act setback: regulatory agencies are increasingly relying on existing statutes, exemptions, guidance, and rulemaking rather than waiting for a comprehensive new law.
CFTC Expands Relief for Passive Trading Software
The CFTC took another separate action on September 17.
Its Market Participants Division issued Staff Letter 26-25, expanding no-action relief for qualifying passive software providers.
The relief may apply to software interfaces that allow users to view markets and send orders directly to registered derivatives firms.
That can include some crypto wallet interfaces.
Qualifying software can connect users with:
- Registered futures commission merchants
- Introducing brokers
- Designated contract markets
Under the no-action position, eligible providers and related personnel would not face a staff recommendation for enforcement solely for failing to register as introducing brokers or associated persons, provided they meet the required conditions.
What Passive Software Providers Can and Cannot Do
The CFTC relief allows qualifying software providers to perform some commercial activities without automatically losing eligibility.
For example, providers may:
- Market specific contracts
- Display available markets
- Allow users to submit orders
- Receive transaction-based fees
However, the software must remain passive.
Providers cannot:
- Take custody of customer assets
- Generate buy or sell signals
- Control order routing
- Control how trades are executed
The relief also includes requirements covering risk disclosures, records, and applicable marketing rules.
It is intended to remain available until the CFTC adopts more specific rules or guidance for software developers.
Three Separate Crypto Regulatory Actions
The recent developments involve three different regulatory tracks:
- The CFTC crypto-market action: An early-stage proposal undergoing White House review.
- The SEC Innovation Exemption: Temporary conditional relief for certain tokenized-stock trading arrangements.
- CFTC Staff Letter 26-25: No-action relief for qualifying passive software providers.
The distinction is important.
The broader CFTC crypto market rules have not yet been formally proposed, while the SEC exemption and CFTC software relief are already agency actions with defined conditions.
What Happens Next for U.S. Crypto Regulation?
The Senate's failure to advance the CLARITY Act has not stopped federal regulators from moving forward with digital-asset policy.
Instead, the SEC and CFTC are increasingly using the powers they say already exist under current law.
For the CFTC's broader crypto-market regime, the immediate next step is the federal review process. Details about which crypto assets, exchanges, and trading activities could fall under the eventual framework remain undisclosed.
The SEC's tokenized-stock exemption and the CFTC's passive-software relief, meanwhile, show how both agencies can make narrower changes without waiting for comprehensive legislation.
The result is a two-track U.S. crypto regulatory environment: Congress continues debating a durable statutory framework, while federal agencies move ahead under existing authority.
