# CFTC Chair Puts Crypto Oversight on Existing Law as CLARITY Act Stalls

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/29309
Published: 2026-10-10T00:03:14.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-10T00:03:14.000Z
Section: Regulation

> Michael S. Selig said the agency will use existing authority to oversee certain leveraged crypto trading while Congress has not sent the market-structure bill to the president.

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said the agency will pursue federal oversight for parts of the crypto market under existing law after Congress failed to send the CLARITY Act to President Donald Trump.

“I’m disappointed that Congress failed to deliver the Clarity Act to the President’s desk,” Selig said in remarks Oct. 5. He added that the CFTC would help establish crypto-market structure “using our existing statutory authorities.”

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has posted advanced notices of proposed rulemaking for crypto asset transactions and crypto asset markets. The proposed frameworks would cover exchanges offering retail crypto trading on a margined, leveraged or financed basis.

Selig said exchanges offering those products would have to register with the CFTC under existing law. Ordinary spot crypto exchanges would generally remain subject to state money-transmission laws, while still falling under the agency’s federal anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority.

The CLARITY Act would establish CFTC jurisdiction over digital commodities, clarify the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority over certain investment contracts involving digital commodities, and impose customer protections on registered entities. The CFTC also updated its FAQs on tokenized permitted investments and blockchain-based recordkeeping on Sept. 24.