Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Mike Selig has told agency staff to prepare cryptocurrency regulations in case Congress does not approve the proposed Clarity Act.
Speaking at the first meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, Selig said digital-asset firms should expect the regulator to move ahead with market-structure rulemaking if lawmakers fail to pass the legislation.
The chairman said the CFTC “won’t sit idle” while the future of the market remains unresolved. He told executives attending the meeting that he had already instructed staff to work on several initiatives designed to establish policies for the cryptocurrency sector.
Selig also said the agency was preparing further rule proposals covering prediction markets, adding another area to the CFTC’s regulatory agenda.
The comments set out the regulator’s intended approach should Congress not deliver the Clarity Act. Rather than waiting indefinitely for legislation, the CFTC would seek to use its existing rulemaking process to put a framework for crypto markets in place.
Selig’s remarks were made during the inaugural gathering of the Innovation Advisory Committee, a forum at which the agency discussed its approach with executives from the industry. The meeting provided the setting for the chairman to outline how the CFTC could respond to continued uncertainty over market structure and digital-asset policy.
At the centre of the announcement is the proposed Clarity Act. The legislation is presented in the article as the route through which Congress could establish a clearer framework for cryptocurrency markets. Selig’s warning indicates that, if the bill fails to pass, the CFTC intends to continue developing rules rather than leaving the issue unaddressed.
The chairman said staff were already engaged in multiple efforts to create crypto policies. He did not indicate that those initiatives would depend entirely on the passage of the legislation. Instead, his message to executives was that crypto companies could rely on the agency to pursue market-structure rules if Congress did not act.
Prediction markets are also set to remain a priority for the CFTC, with Selig confirming that more proposals in that field are forthcoming. Those plans were mentioned alongside the agency’s work on cryptocurrency policy during the committee’s first meeting.
Selig’s intervention places responsibility for the next stage of crypto regulation partly with the CFTC. Congress may still determine the structure of the market through the Clarity Act, but the chairman has made clear that the agency is preparing its own response should the bill fail.
The meeting was the first held by the Innovation Advisory Committee. Selig, who chairs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, used it to inform industry executives about the work already commissioned by his staff and the additional proposals expected from the regulator.
