TLDR
CFTC Chair Michael Selig is openly promoting progress on the CLARITY Act, signaling that a comprehensive US crypto market-structure law is closer than it has ever been.
- Selig says Congress is at the finish line and is hopeful the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act can pass by early July.
- The bill would codify when tokens are securities versus commodities, giving the CFTC clear spot-market authority over many major crypto assets.
- Next key milestones are an SEC-CFTC roundtable and a Senate Banking Committee markup, where DeFi, stablecoin yield, and developer protections remain the main swing issues.
Deep Dive
1. What The CFTC Chair Is Saying
At the Milken Institute Global Conference, CFTC Chair Michael Selig said he is hopeful the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act can pass by July 4, adding that Congress is at the finish line on the compromise bill, according to his remarks to attendees at the event. He has also highlighted joint rulemaking with the SEC and pointed to the CLARITY Act and the GENIUS Act as the legislative pillars needed for durable, not easily reversible, crypto policy.
In parallel, Selig has confirmed that updated CFTC rules are already integrating stablecoins into collateral and margin frameworks, replacing informal guidance with enforceable standards, while legislation would lock these changes into statute.
The top US derivatives regulator is not just tolerating the bill, but actively selling it as nearly ready, which reduces perceived policy tail risk for onshore crypto markets.
2. What The CLARITY Act Would Actually Do
The CLARITY Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025) is designed to draw a legal line between securities and commodities in crypto, then assign primary oversight accordingly. Decentralized or non security-like tokens would fall under CFTC jurisdiction as digital commodities, while assets tied to investment expectations and centralized control would stay with the SEC, giving the CFTC explicit authority over spot markets and intermediaries for many major coins.
Recent bipartisan compromises on stablecoin yield are a core part of the package. The latest draft bans rewards that function like bank-deposit interest but allows bona fide activity-based rewards that reflect actual use of platforms or networks, a structure that major firms such as Coinbase and Circle have publicly backed. The bill also touches DeFi safe harbors, developer liability limits, and prediction markets, aiming to replace case-by-case enforcement with clearer statutory rules.
3. Timeline, Hurdles, And What To Watch
The House passed its version of the bill in July 2025, and Senate Banking Committee leaders are now aiming for a markup window in May 2026, supported by a May SEC-CFTC roundtable focused on CLARITY Act jurisdiction questions. Industry groups and many lawmakers describe this as a rare alignment that may not return for years if missed.
However, several issues could still derail or dilute the bill, including law-enforcement objections to DeFi developer protections, ethics language for public officials, and ongoing concerns from traditional banks about stablecoin competition. Prediction markets currently price a better-than-even chance of 2026 passage, but not certainty, reflecting these unresolved risks.
Near term, expect volatility around legislative headlines; longer term, a successful CLARITY Act would likely bring more institutional capital onshore while imposing clearer, stricter rules on exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and some DeFi front ends.
Conclusion
The CFTC chairs upbeat messaging on the CLARITY Act suggests Washington is closer than ever to a unified crypto market-structure law that clearly splits SEC and CFTC roles. If the remaining fights on stablecoins, DeFi, and ethics are resolved in the coming weeks, the result could be a more predictable regulatory environment that supports deeper institutional participation, even as it raises the compliance bar for many parts of the crypto ecosystem.
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