CFTC starts crypto rulemaking after Clarity Act stalls

The CFTC submitted a prerule for crypto asset transactions and markets to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The prerule covers the agency's planned framework for crypto derivatives. OIRA review precedes public release of federal rules. The CFTC has not made the text public. The Clarity Act failed a Senate cloture vote after falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance. Senator Cynthia Lummis called the bill's chances all but dead this year. Other lawmakers have signaled that they intend to continue pushing the bill despite the shortened legislative calendar. The SEC issued an innovation exemption that lets qualifying venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks on blockchain networks without registering as national exchanges. The CFTC issued no-action relief for certain software providers. The relief includes crypto wallet apps that give users access to regulated derivatives without registering as introducing brokers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously identified agency rulemaking as a fallback if the Clarity Act stalled.