The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is examining AI-powered trading while Ripple, Coinbase and other crypto firms press the SEC for clearer securities rules. The developments come as the Senate's failure to advance the Clarity Act leaves open questions about token trading, investment contracts and secondary-market transactions. Industry participants warn that SEC guidance can shift with future leadership, while federal legislation could provide more durable legal certainty.

The commodities regulator will discuss AI and financial markets at its inaugural Frontier Forum on Super Intelligence.

CFTC Brings Industry Leaders Together to Discuss AI

The CFTC's Innovation Task Force will host the forum on Wednesday, bringing together leaders from finance, technology and crypto. Discussions will examine how advanced AI could reshape U.S. financial markets and how regulators should oversee AI-powered trading, including autonomous systems.

Representatives from Tempo, Hedera and Chainlink will attend alongside executives from Ornn, Liquid Compute and OneChronos. The Investment Company Institute, which represents the regulated fund industry, will also participate.

Meanwhile, crypto firms are exploring blockchain and stablecoins for autonomous AI transactions. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss has previously argued that crypto could serve machines more directly than humans. That overlap gives Wednesday's forum added relevance for the crypto industry, since the autonomous, machine-to-machine activity under discussion is the same use case blockchain-based payments are being built to serve.

Ripple and Coinbase Seek Clearer SEC Rules

The SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets has drawn comment letters from firms seeking clarity after the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate last month. Although many companies supported the proposal, they raised concerns about when tokens stop being tied to investment contracts. They also questioned how regulators would treat secondary-market trading, network upgrades and token buybacks.

Comment letters are a standard stage in SEC rulemaking, giving outside firms a formal channel to seek changes before a proposal is finalized.

The Clarity Act had sought to address these issues through provisions covering qualifying tokens and ancillary assets.

Ripple's legal battle over XRP highlighted disputes about applying securities laws to tokens. Coinbase faced its own SEC lawsuit in 2023 over alleged unregistered securities trading, but the agency dropped the case in 2025.

Comment Letters Highlight Remaining Legal Uncertainty

In its comment letter, Coinbase requested a higher fundraising cap for token offerings and clearer rules for airdrops and network rewards. Separately, law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel submitted an October 20 letter signed by including securities attorney Lewis Cohen. The firm warned that independent participants still lack confidence about secondary-market obligations and called for an additional safe harbor.

The SEC, however, cannot deliver the certainty of federal legislation beyond its statutory authority. Bullish CEO Tom Farley raised this concern on the Crypto in America podcast, warning that a future SEC chair could reverse agency initiatives quickly. Relying on agency action, he said, carries more risk than having federal law. That leaves the outstanding comment letters and the stalled Clarity Act as the two levers — rulemaking and legislation — that will shape how much legal certainty U.S. token markets ultimately gain.