The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sent a proposed regulatory framework covering crypto asset transactions and crypto asset markets to the White House for review, moving ahead with rule-making just days after the Senate failed to advance a major piece of crypto legislation.

According to the filing, which the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) — the White House office that reviews federal agencies' planned regulations — received on Sept. 17, the document is titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets." It is classified as a prerule, meaning the agency has not yet formally proposed the rules. The filing does not disclose which crypto assets or market activities would fall under its scope. White House review is a routine step for significant federal regulations before an agency can publish a formal proposal.

The submission comes two days after the Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the CLARITY Act, a bill intended to establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets. The tally fell short of the 60 votes generally required to advance major legislation in the Senate.

Following the vote, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency was "locked in and ready to ship" crypto market rules using its existing statutory authority. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, speaking separately, similarly indicated that the securities regulator would move forward "with or without legislation."

The CFTC has been preparing for such a route for some time. In August 2026, Selig said the agency was exploring rules that could allow both existing registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to operate as a new type of designated contract market, or "crypto asset market," where leveraged or margined crypto trading could take place under CFTC oversight. Designated contract markets are the CFTC-regulated venues where derivatives contracts such as futures and options are listed.

The CFTC and the SEC have already taken steps to broaden their crypto regulatory frameworks without waiting for new legislation. The CFTC issued no-action relief for certain providers of passive software, while the SEC announced temporary exemptions for some platforms that facilitate on-chain trading of tokenized securities. The two agencies' jurisdictions — the CFTC over derivatives, the SEC over securities — have been central to the market-structure debate in Congress.

Under U.S. administrative procedure, the prerule does not immediately change the rules governing crypto trading. Rather, it opens an administrative process that could eventually lead to a formal proposal, a public comment period, and final rules — the point at which the rules' text would be published and market participants could formally respond.

Taken together, the developments mark a shift toward agency-led crypto rule-making after Congress stalled on digital asset legislation, with the CFTC seeking to use its existing powers to establish a market structure for digital assets in the absence of new law — a process whose next steps run through White House review and, if cleared, a published formal proposal.

Source: BitcoinKE