CFTC Sends Crypto-Market Rulemaking to White House After CLARITY Act Setback

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted a crypto-market rulemaking to the White House for review, two days after the Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. The filing, made on September 17, is titled Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets and is listed as a pending-review prerule on the White House regulatory portal.

The move places an agency-led regulatory effort alongside a stalled congressional bill. On September 15, cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the CLARITY Act, failed in the Senate by a 49–50 vote, according to the Senate’s floor record.

CFTC files crypto-market prerule with OIRA

The CFTC’s submission to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA, was recorded on September 17 as a prerule pending review, according to Reginfo.gov. The public listing provides the rulemaking’s title and review status, but does not disclose a detailed proposal.

Its timing is notable because the Senate vote came just 48 hours earlier. The failed cloture vote stopped the chamber from moving forward at that stage on the legislation, rather than delivering a final Senate disposition on the substance of the bill.

Independent reporting described the submission as an effort by the agency to proceed under existing statutory authority instead of waiting for comprehensive legislation to clear Congress. Cointelegraph’s coverage similarly placed the OIRA filing two days after the Senate setback.

The sequence shows that a crypto-market item has entered the White House review process while the legislative route remains unresolved, but it does not establish that the CFTC has adopted a finished regulatory framework.

Michael Selig’s existing-authority fallback

The filing follows a position set out by CFTC Chairman Michael Selig in August. On August 19, Selig said the commission would use its existing authorities to establish a crypto-asset market regime should the CLARITY Act stall, according to the CFTC.

That approach included the possibility of allowing exchanges to operate as a new type of designated contract market. The chairman’s statement did not mean that such a pathway had been established, and the OIRA listing does not reveal whether or how that potential structure appears in the submitted prerule.

Still, the September submission gives a formal procedural marker to the contingency Selig outlined. Rather than treating congressional action as a prerequisite for all further work, the agency has now put a crypto-asset market rulemaking before OIRA for review.

That distinction matters for the near-term policy picture: the Senate’s 49–50 cloture result left the CLARITY Act unable to advance at that moment, while the CFTC’s filing shows a separate track based on authority the agency says it already holds.

What White House review puts in motion

White House review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is an early procedural step, not a final CFTC rule. The proposal’s detailed text had not been publicly disclosed as of the reporting, so its specific requirements, definitions and scope could not yet be assessed.

Before any rule could take effect, the CFTC would still need to act, conduct a public-comment process and hold a final commission vote. Bloomberg News, in reporting carried by Advisor Perspectives, described the OIRA review as preliminary and noted those remaining stages.

Until the proposal’s substance is disclosed, the filing indicates regulatory direction and timing but does not provide a public rulebook for crypto-asset transactions or markets.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.