Headline: CFTC says it can roll out crypto market-structure rules even if CLARITY Act stalls The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has already prepared digital-asset market structure proposals and could move forward with them — even if Congress fails to pass the long-awaited CLARITY Act, Commissioner Selig told Whale Insider. “Crypto will get market structure regardless of bill,” Selig said, according to the report. He did not specify which proposals have been completed, when they might be published, or how far the agency can go under its current legal authority. What the CFTC can and can’t do without the CLARITY Act - Today the CFTC’s core jurisdiction covers derivatives — futures, options and swaps tied to digital assets — and it enforces anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules in spot commodity transactions. - The agency does not have routine supervisory authority over crypto spot exchanges the way it does over registered derivatives platforms. That means a full federal framework for spot digital-commodity trading would still require congressional action. - Within its existing powers under the Commodity Exchange Act, the CFTC could still adopt rules for registered derivatives venues, intermediaries, disclosure requirements, and crypto futures independently of Congress. Why the CLARITY Act matters - The CLARITY Act would set up a registration regime for certain digital commodity exchanges and formally split oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission. - In general, the bill aims to put qualifying digital commodities under the CFTC while leaving crypto assets treated as securities to the SEC. - Ongoing negotiations in Congress are focused on how to handle decentralized finance, ethics rules for public officials, and whether rewards on stablecoin balances should be restricted. Practical constraints: staffing and scope - An expanded CFTC mandate would raise questions about staffing and resources. The commission is statutorily a five-member body but currently has just one confirmed commissioner, Selig, and its workforce has declined since fiscal 2025. - Supervising spot crypto trading in addition to derivatives, prediction markets and enforcement would require more personnel and capabilities — including registration reviews and ongoing monitoring of firms not currently under CFTC oversight. The legislative path and odds - Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on proceeding to the CLARITY Act before the August recess; the procedural vote is slated for Sept. 15 after senators return. Cloture needs 60 votes, so bipartisan support will be necessary. If cloture is invoked, the Senate could still debate and amend the bill before a final vote. - The House approved its version in July 2025; the Senate Banking Committee advanced its text in May 2026. Any differences between the chambers’ versions would require reconciliation before the bill could reach the president. - Prediction markets have cooled: Polymarket’s implied odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 fell below 20% by mid‑August, down from around 82% in February. White House push and industry turnout - President Trump urged lawmakers to pass a “fair version” of the bill during an Aug. 19 White House event, calling federal legislation necessary to lock in digital-asset policy beyond his administration. Executives from Coinbase, Gemini, Ripple, Kraken, Chainlink Labs, Anchorage Digital, Grayscale and OKX, among others, attended the meeting — which took place a day before the CFTC’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee session. CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee meeting - The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee met Aug. 20 (1–4 p.m. EDT) in Washington. The agenda included digital assets, AI’s role in markets and prediction markets. - Committee discussions were expected to focus on customer protection, market integrity and how the CFTC can use existing statutory tools — and how agency action could complement, rather than substitute for, any statutory powers in the CLARITY Act. - The advisory committee can recommend policy but cannot enact binding rules or expand the CFTC’s legal jurisdiction. The public can submit written statements through Aug. 27; accepted materials will be added to the committee record. SEC moving on parallel tracks - The SEC is developing separate rulemaking for crypto offerings and tokenized securities. Securitize President Brett Redfearn said the SEC paused a planned innovation exemption because of uncertainties tied to the Sept. 15 CLARITY Act vote; he expects it to reappear after the Senate vote, possibly in early October. - The SEC also canceled an Aug. 14 open meeting to consider an offering framework for certain crypto investment contracts, citing an unforeseen scheduling issue. CFTC explores AI-compute derivatives - On Aug. 19 the CFTC asked for public comment on derivatives tied to AI computing capacity — a 19-page consultation covering liquidity, reference prices, manipulation risks, customer protections and the potential listing of perpetual compute futures. - Selig framed the consultation as part of keeping the U.S. competitive in AI markets: “America cannot win the AI race without a robust derivatives market for compute,” he said. Contracts could reference GPU rental prices (for chips like Nvidia’s H100 or Blackwell B200) or specific AI inference capacity. The request does not approve any contracts; comments will be open for 60 days after the consultation appears in the Federal Register (as of Aug. 20 it had not yet been posted). - Separately, CME Group has targeted Oct. 5 to launch two futures tied to daily GPU rental benchmarks from Silicon Data, though those products remain subject to regulatory review. Bottom line The CFTC is signaling it won’t wait indefinitely for Congress to legislate a crypto framework. Regulatory action on derivatives, intermediaries and related market structure is likely to proceed within the agency’s existing legal limits — while a comprehensive federal regime for spot crypto trading still hinges on whether the CLARITY Act or a similar law reaches the president’s desk. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news