The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has moved crypto rules into White House review, days after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act. The filing starts an executive review process and keeps the agency’s digital asset market structure work moving while Congress continues negotiations.
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The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the CFTC action on September 17. The entry is titled “Regulation of Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation of Crypto Asset Markets” and remains under review as a prelude. Its full text has not been published.
The filing is not a final rule or an active compliance requirement. It places the CFTC’s planned crypto rules inside the federal review process before a public proposal.
Why Did the CFTC Send Crypto Rules to the White House?
This comes after the Senate’s September 15th vote regarding the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. Voting in favor of the motion to invoke cloture was 49-50, falling short of the required 60 votes.
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The rejection did not stop efforts to develop the bill. Seven Democratic senators stated their commitment to continued bipartisan negotiations following the vote as “a setback” and not the end of the road.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig had already prepared an alternative if Congress failed to pass market structure legislation. On August 20, he directed staff to develop a crypto rules using existing CFTC authority.
Selig said existing firms and some unregistered crypto exchanges could be designated as “crypto asset markets.” According to him, this designation will include leveraged or margined crypto transactions that fall within the jurisdiction of the CFTC.
This provides background information on the White House filing made in September. This White House filing ensures that the agency’s work on regulating crypto assets in the US is put under review.
What Does White House Review Mean for the CFTC Framework?
However, OIRA reviews significant regulatory actions by federal agencies prior to their publication in the Federal Register. This requirement was further expanded to cover independent regulatory agencies in an executive order issued in February 2025.
Hence, it is clear that the White House review does not have any bearing on the effectiveness of the crypto rules. The OIRA entry classifies the action as a prerule, indicating that it remains at an early stage of the regulatory process.
A formal proposal needs to undergo publishing and comments from the public before the agency can proceed with making a final rule. The action being under review means that the requirements have not been fully published yet.
The exchanges and other market actors are yet to get information regarding the registration requirements and trading requirements of the CFTC crypto framework.
How Is the CFTC Expanding Its Digital Asset Agenda?
This filing coincided with similar relief granted by the CFTC’s Market Participants Division with regard to passive software providers. The Division said qualifying passive software providers meeting certain conditions will not face recommended enforcement for failing to register as introducing brokers.
The relief concerns software that assists individuals in making transactions involving futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and designated contract markets. It provides one software developer relief while other cryptocurrency regulations are pending review.
On September 17, the SEC also took action. It approved a temporary and conditional “Innovation Exemption” for selective trading of tokenized National Market System securities in some blockchain venues.
According to the order, qualified blockchain venues for tokenized securities have to employ automated market makers and liquidity pools in a permissioned environment. The exemption also applies to liquidity providers and has certain reporting and technological safeguards.
What Happens Next for U.S. Crypto Regulation?
The first thing is that the OIRA review should be completed. Until such information is published by the CFTC, it will not be possible to estimate the impact of these crypto rules on exchange registration, leverage trading, developer responsibilities, and other aspects.
Congress also has an option in the form of the CLARITY Act. Seven democratic senators speaking after the failed vote confirmed that negotiations would continue.
Right now, both avenues are running parallel to each other. One side is working on crypto rules according to the current legal basis; the other side continues to work on the digital asset markets statutory framework.
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