CFTC Chair: Regulation will proceed if CLARITY bill misses

US CFTC Chair Michael Selig used remarks at the agency’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting to make clear that crypto regulation is not “waiting on Washington” to catch up. While lawmakers continue to debate the proposed Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, Selig said the commission would still pursue rulemaking and regulatory steps it believes are available under existing authority.

In prepared remarks on Thursday, Selig indicated that CFTC staff had already been directed to permit both registered and non-registered entities to provide “crypto asset trading on a leveraged or margined basis,” and to explore protections for developers. He framed this approach as giving CLARITY “breathing room” for a vote, but accelerating implementation if Congress fails to send what he described as a fair, bipartisan bill to the White House.

Key takeaways

• CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency will move forward on crypto rules even if the CLARITY Act is not enacted.
• Selig pointed to internal direction allowing leveraged or margined crypto trading by both registered and non-registered entities.
• The CFTC chair linked any legislative delay to a potential “swift” push for new industry rules should Congress not produce enough consensus.
• The CLARITY Act’s timeline is tied to a planned Senate cloture vote expected when the chamber returns in September.
• Selig also discussed the CFTC’s continuing push on prediction markets, including its view of “exclusive jurisdiction” tied to event contracts.

Why Selig is signaling “move now, not later”

Selig’s message was aimed at the reality of congressional gridlock. He said the CFTC would effectively pause “breathing room” for CLARITY to reach the necessary decision process, but only for so long. If lawmakers—including Democrats and Republicans—do not converge on a bipartisan compromise and deliver a version Selig described as “fair” to President Donald Trump, the chair said he would instruct CFTC staff to propose rules for the industry quickly.

The central point is that the CFTC believes it can regulate aspects of the crypto market structure through existing mechanisms, even if broader statutory clarity remains unsettled. For market participants, that matters because it shifts expectations away from a single legislative moment and toward continuing, agency-driven regulatory development.

What happens to CLARITY if Congress stalls

According to the account of the legislative path described alongside Selig’s remarks, the market structure bill is essentially on hold until the US Senate returns to session in September. At that time, Majority Leader John Thune is expected to bring the legislation for a cloture vote.

For CLARITY to move forward in the Senate and return to the House, it would need 60 votes. If it clears that threshold, the bill would proceed back to the House for approval before reaching Trump’s desk, where it could be signed or vetoed.

That voting math is one reason Selig’s warning carries weight. If CLARITY does not clear the Senate bar, the CFTC’s willingness to use regulatory tools available now could effectively reduce the practical impact of the delayed statute—at least in the areas where the commission believes it has room to act.

CLARITY’s prospects are further complicated by ongoing political disagreements. The article notes that many Democrats have sought stronger ethics provisions in the market structure bill, specifically to address the Trump family’s crypto investments—reported as having netted the president $1.4 billion in 2025. Trump, meanwhile, said Wednesday that “a lot of Democrats” approved of CLARITY, but it remained unclear whether support would be sufficient for the 60-vote requirement in the Senate.

Consistency with the SEC’s broader approach

Selig’s comments also echoed a wider regulatory push happening in parallel at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier in the week, the SEC released proposed rules for digital asset regulation. The SEC said the proposals could give crypto firms a safe harbor approach from tokens being treated as “investment contracts,” alongside exemptions for certain issuers.

For investors and industry compliance teams, simultaneous signals from both agencies can matter as much as the content itself. Even when rules differ—CFTC frameworks often focus on futures, derivatives, and commodity-related market conduct, while SEC frameworks address securities-law questions—the overall direction can influence how companies structure products, marketing language, and legal risk assessments.

In that sense, Selig’s remarks read as part of a broader “regulate regardless” posture, where agencies seek to provide certainty and operational pathways rather than waiting for a single piece of legislation to settle all questions at once.

Regulatory priorities beyond market structure: leverage, developers, and prediction markets

Selig’s remarks also highlighted internal CFTC priorities reaching beyond the CLARITY debate. He said he had directed staff to allow leveraged or margined crypto asset trading by both registered and non-registered entities and to explore developer protections.

Separately, Thursday’s Innovation Advisory Committee agenda included artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The chair reiterated the CFTC’s position that it has “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets, based on its view that event contracts on the platforms it is considering qualify as “swaps.”

According to the account, Selig has directed the commission to file lawsuits against state-level authorities that challenge the CFTC’s jurisdictional view, including cases involving companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

These prediction market efforts underscore a theme in Selig’s leadership: the CFTC is not treating the legislative agenda as the only route to policy outcomes. Instead, it appears willing to pursue enforcement and litigation strategies to establish boundaries of its authority even while Congress works through a broader market structure bill.

What to watch next

The immediate question is whether the Senate can reach the 60-vote threshold for CLARITY when it returns in September. In the meantime, market participants should track how the CFTC operationalizes Selig’s direction—especially around leveraged or margined trading allowances—and whether prediction market litigation continues to expand as the agency tests its “exclusive jurisdiction” position.