CFTC Kicks Off Crypto Rulemaking, Bypassing a Stalled Congress

In brief

• The CFTC sent a prerule titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the White House's OIRA for review.
• As an early-stage prerule, the text isn't public yet, but the move signals the CFTC intends to regulate crypto derivatives without waiting for Congress, days after the Clarity Act failed its Senate cloture vote.
• Both the CFTC and SEC are pressing ahead: The SEC issued a new tokenized-stock "innovation exemption" and the CFTC released no-action relief for crypto trading apps.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is pushing ahead with its own crypto rulebook, sending a pair of digital-asset rulemakings to the White House for review just days after the Clarity Act collapsed in the Senate.

According to a filing posted this week, the CFTC submitted a prerule titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets" to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the White House office that vets federal rules before agencies release them.

As a prerule, the filing marks an early phase in the rulemaking process rather than a finished regulation, and OIRA review is a procedural step that precedes public release. The agency has not yet made the text public, so the specific provisions remain unclear.