The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has submitted a new regulatory action covering crypto asset transactions and crypto asset markets for White House review, moving forward with its approach to overseeing the digital asset sector.

According to a filing with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the action, titled “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets,” was received on Sept. 17 and is listed at the “prerule” stage. The designation indicates the action is at an early stage of the rulemaking process and has not yet been formally proposed. Actions at this stage typically precede a formal proposal, which under US administrative procedure would be opened for public comment before any final rule could take effect.

The filing does not disclose details of the planned regulation, but it comes days after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, legislation aimed at establishing a federal regulatory framework for crypto markets. With the legislative route stalled, near-term rulemaking for US crypto markets now rests primarily with the agencies themselves.

A day after the Sept. 15 vote, CFTC Chair Michael Selig posted on X that the agency was “locked in and ready to ship” rules for crypto markets using its existing statutory authority. SEC Chair Paul Atkins similarly said the securities regulator would move ahead “with or without legislation.”

Both agencies took action the following day. The CFTC issued a no-action position for providers of passive software, while the SEC announced temporary exemptions for certain platforms facilitating onchain trading of tokenized securities.

CFTC and SEC move ahead without new legislation

The CFTC had been exploring the possibility of advancing crypto rules without new legislation even before this week's Senate vote. In remarks at the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee conference on Aug. 20, Selig said the agency was prepared to use its existing authority to establish a crypto asset market regime if the CLARITY Act stalled.

Selig added that he had directed CFTC staff to explore rules that could allow existing registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to become a type of designated contract market called a “crypto asset market,” where leveraged or margined crypto trading could be offered under CFTC oversight. Creating that category would give crypto trading platforms a federal registration route designed specifically for digital asset markets.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also said he expected regulators to move ahead after the vote. In a Sept. 15 post on X, he wrote that the SEC and CFTC had “the tools they need to create clear rules under existing authority” and that he expected them to begin working on the issue “in earnest.”

“So clarity is coming to crypto regardless,” Armstrong wrote. The next procedural marker is whether the prerule listing advances to a formally proposed rule, the point at which the CFTC's intended requirements would become public.