The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has a message for the digital asset industry: don’t hold your breath waiting on Congress. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig confirmed on August 4, 2026, that the agency has rule proposals specifically targeting digital asset markets ready to advance, and it plans to do exactly that regardless of whether the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act ever clears the Senate.
What Selig actually said
The CLARITY Act, formally H.R. 3633, already passed the House in 2025 and would establish the CFTC as the primary federal overseer of spot digital commodity markets.
Selig’s position is that the CFTC doesn’t need the bill to cross the finish line before acting. The agency has prepared rule proposals aimed at providing what Selig described as certainty, clarity, and consumer protection across digital asset markets, and those proposals are ready to move.
Selig specifically advocated for a single federal framework over a state-by-state approach. A trading platform serving customers in fifty states can’t operationally comply with fifty different rulebooks without enormous cost and legal exposure.
