CFTC Chair Mike Selig Pushes Rules Focused on Perpetual Contracts
The agency says it can advance market-structure rules under existing authority, but Congress must act before it can oversee spot crypto markets.
CFTC Chair Mike Selig said the agency will move forward with U.S. crypto market-structure rules, with perpetual contracts among the main areas of focus, despite the Senate’s rejection of the CLARITY Act.
Selig said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission can use its existing statutory authority to advance the framework without waiting for Congress to pass a new law. He described the current moment as one for action.
The agency is also reviewing rules for markets that operate around the clock on-chain and are powered by algorithms and artificial intelligence agents. The review could affect how such platforms are supervised.
The framework may include a new designated contract market category that would allow exchanges to offer leveraged crypto trading under CFTC oversight. Perpetual contracts are derivatives that do not have a fixed expiration date.
The CFTC’s authority would not extend to spot crypto markets under the proposed approach. Broader oversight of those markets would still require legislation from Congress.
