CFTC sent to the White House a plan to regulate the crypto market bypassing the blocked CLARITY Act
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sent a closed package of executive proposals to the Administration of the President of the United States. The document proposes to introduce basic standards for supervision of digital assets through departmental decrees and administrative regulations in conditions where the key inter-parliamentary bill CLARITY Act is finally stuck in the Senate in the summer of 2026.
Why did the CFTC take an administrative bypass?
The long-suffering CLARITY Act bill, designed to legislatively delineate the jurisdiction of regulators, was blocked due to acute disagreements over the status of stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). Not wanting to maintain a legal vacuum, the CFTC invited the White House to use the agency’s existing powers without waiting for Congress to act. The new initiative of the CFTC regulation of cryptocurrencies involves the temporary recognition of Bitcoin, Ethereum and large altcoins of the first level as digital commodities with their automatic transfer under the supervision of the commission.
How will regulators share control over the market?
The roadmap proposed to the White House clearly distributes areas of responsibility between departments in order to avoid interdepartmental conflicts:
| Parameter | CFTC Area of Responsibility | Area of responsibility of the SEC |
|---|---|---|
| Asset types | Spot market BTC, ETH, decentralized L1 tokens | Tokens with signs of investment contracts (Howey test) |
| Supervision tools | Registration of spot exchanges, audit of reserves, fight against manipulation | Control of initial placements and broker-dealers |
The main emphasis in the document is on the introduction of mandatory simplified registration for all American spot platforms. This will allow direct regulatory inspections of crypto exchanges to be launched as early as the fourth quarter of 2026.
What is the industry response and market implications?
Representatives of the institutional sector greeted the commission’s move with moderate optimism. Experts note that directCFTC regulation of cryptocurrenciesthrough orders from the White House will allow market participants to quickly exit the “gray” zone, although administrative measures are inferior in legal force to a full-fledged federal law.
- Positive signal: The emergence of clear rules of the game for American institutional investors without waiting for the outcome of the elections.
- Key risks: Potential lawsuits from the SEC, whose leadership has previously repeatedly challenged attempts to expand the CFTC’s powers in the spot market.
The news of the possible unblocking of regulation caused a local impulse in the market: the Bitcoin price reacted with a brief rise above $88,000, as industry participants traditionally perceive the CFTC as a more pragmatic and open-to-dialogue body compared to the SEC.
