Live: CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee Meeting

CFTC exploring new crypto market regime if Congress fails to act

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said he has directed agency staff to begin exploring rules that could establish a CFTC-regulated market structure for crypto assets using the commission’s existing authority.

The potential framework could allow both existing CFTC registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to seek designation under a new category described by Selig as a “crypto asset market.”

Those platforms could then offer crypto trading involving leverage or margin under rules specifically designed for digital asset markets and under CFTC oversight.

Selig also said he has directed CFTC staff to engage directly with developers of on-chain finance protocols to determine how those protocols could legally and compliantly operate in the United States.

The agency will initially give Congress additional time to vote on the CLARITY Act. But Selig said that if lawmakers fail to advance the bipartisan legislation, he will direct staff to “move swiftly” toward proposing the CFTC’s own crypto rules.

“We’re going to give CLARITY its breathing room for a vote,” Selig said, before adding that the agency is prepared to act if Congress does not.

Passing CLARITY Act is most important step for crypto

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig urged Congress to pass bipartisan crypto market structure legislation, calling passage of the CLARITY Act the most important step toward establishing durable rules for the U.S. digital asset industry.

“The most important step towards future-proofing this industry is passing this bipartisan bill,” Selig said.

He argued that legislation is necessary to prevent a future administration from reversing the current regulatory direction and returning to an enforcement-led approach toward crypto companies.

Selig called on industry executives attending the meeting to continue engaging with Capitol Hill to push the legislation “across the finish line.”

However, he also made clear that the CFTC is preparing an alternative if Congress fails to act.

“If CLARITY continues to stall,” Selig said, the CFTC will use its existing authorities to begin building a regulatory regime for crypto asset markets.

CFTC and SEC are working on crypto asset taxonomy

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the agency is working with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on “Project Crypto” to establish clearer rules for determining which crypto assets are securities and which are not.

Selig said the initiative is intended to give markets greater certainty after what he described as years of regulation by enforcement, where businesses could not know in advance whether their activities complied with U.S. law.

“I partnered with Chairman Atkins at the Securities and Exchange Commission on Project Crypto to codify a clear taxonomy for crypto assets,” Selig said.

He said the framework would draw a clearer jurisdictional line between the two agencies as Washington works toward a broader federal market structure for digital assets.

Selig also criticized the previous regulatory approach, telling crypto industry participants in the room that many had been “victims” of enforcement policies that operated without clear rules on the books.

Walt Lukken says CFTC must stop separating ‘traditional’ and new markets

Innovation Advisory Committee Chair Walt Lukken said in the meeting that regulators should no longer treat traditional derivatives, crypto and prediction markets as fundamentally separate categories.

“We must stop distinguishing between traditional and new market types,” Lukken said, adding that firms across the industry are competing and innovating regardless of the type of market they operate.

Lukken pointed to the rapid expansion of CFTC-regulated markets. He said the agency oversaw 16 designated contract markets in 2003, compared with 30 today and another 17 applications pending. The number of traded contracts regulated by the CFTC has also risen from around 2,100 in 2023 to 6,700 today, which he described as roughly a threefold increase.

He attributed part of that growth to the flexibility built into the Commodity Exchange Act, including principles-based regulation, self-certification and the CFTC’s exemptive authority. Lukken said Congress had tasked the agency with promoting responsible innovation and fair competition without sacrificing market safety or customer protection.

Lukken also stressed that the committee is not designed to advocate for a particular technology or business model. Instead, it will provide the CFTC with practical recommendations based on the experience of companies building and operating financial markets.

“Good policy is informed policy,” he said, arguing that regulators need input from the people directly using and developing these markets.

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig is scheduled to follow Lukken with his opening remarks before the meeting moves into its first crypto-focused session. The CFTC lists Selig as the committee’s sponsor and Lukken as one of its members.

CFTC committee roster shows broad crypto and market-structure reach

The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee is drawing from a wide cross-section of crypto, trading and traditional market infrastructure, underscoring how broadly today’s policy discussion could extend beyond spot digital assets alone.

The committee roster includes executives from crypto-native firms such as Consensys, Anchorage Digital, Grayscale, Chainlink Labs, OKX, Kraken, Blockchain.com, Gemini, Solana Labs, FalconX, Multicoin Capital and Paradigm. It also includes representatives from traditional finance and market infrastructure groups including Franklin Templeton, DTCC, LSEG, Intercontinental Exchange, ISDA and DRW.

The list also features firms tied to prediction markets and consumer trading platforms, including Kalshi, DraftKings and Robinhood, signaling that the committee’s scope may reach into adjacent questions around market access, event contracts, trading infrastructure and regulated product design.

CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee meeting to begin

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is set to begin the inaugural meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on August 20, 2026, with crypto market structure, regulatory clarity, and the future of digital asset oversight at the center of the agenda.

According to the official agenda, the meeting will run from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET at Three Lafayette Centre in Washington, D.C. Opening remarks are scheduled from 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, led by Michael J. Passalacqua, designated federal officer for the Innovation Advisory Committee, Walt Lukken, chair of the committee, and CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig, who is listed as the committee’s sponsor.