CFTC Submits Crypto Market Rule Proposal to White House for Review

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted a proposed rulemaking to regulate crypto asset transactions and markets to the White House for regulatory review. The filing, dated September 17, is listed on the federal regulatory portal reginfo.gov under RIN 3038-AF80 with the title “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets.” The submission enters the executive review process without a final text published, marking the clearest sign yet that the CFTC intends to write crypto market rules under its own authority.

The dashboard entry names the CFTC as the agency responsible and places the rulemaking at the prerule stage, with no legal deadline attached. It flags the action under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act but does not classify it as economically significant, and it records no international impacts. The review is part of the executive order process known as EO 12866, which routes agency rules through the White House before they are formally proposed. The dual title signals the commission is addressing two fronts at once: the transactions users execute in crypto assets and the structure of the markets where those assets are traded. Reginfo.gov does not publish the rule text, so the precise definitions and obligations remain under wraps.

The submission arrives the same week the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, the bill that would have given the CFTC primary authority over digital asset spot markets, on a 49-50 cloture vote. With that legislative route now stalled, the new filing signals the commission is pressing forward through its existing rulemaking powers rather than waiting on Congress to define its crypto mandate.

Because the rule sits at the prerule stage, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs will review it before any proposal can reach the Federal Register for public comment. That makes the crypto market rules a draft under review rather than a final regulation, and the details of registration, custody and market oversight are still to be determined. Industry participants have long asked for clearer federal rules on how digital asset markets are supervised, and the filing gives them a concrete milestone to respond to. The move nonetheless deepens the CFTC’s crypto footprint, which recently expanded when the commission broadened no-action relief for passive crypto software providers. A final proposal would open a public comment window and could shape how US venues and intermediaries handle digital assets.