Senators Introduce Bill to Hand Crypto Control to CFTC

Lawmakers introduced legislation that would give cryptocurrency oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission .

The draft bill , released Monday (Nov. 10) by Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, would create new authority for the CFTC to regulate digital assets, shifting oversight away from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The CFTC is the right agency to regulate spot digital commodity trading, and it is essential to establish clear rules for the emerging crypto market while also protecting consumers,” Boozman, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry , said in a Monday news release . “This discussion draft advances those goals and lays an important marker as we work toward final policy language.”

The legislation would establish a “clear definition of digital commodities” as well as a spot market digital commodity regulatory regime with the CFTC, the release said.

It would also create consumer protections such as customer fund segregation requirements, conflict of interest safeguards, and “appropriate customer disclosure requirements, and prohibitions on certain affiliated trading,” according to the release.

The bill would also require the CFTC and SEC to work together on “necessary inter-agency rulemakings” while also creating protections for “self-custody and innovative technology,” per the release.

Booker said in the release that there is still “significant work” ahead before the legislation can make it out of committee and onto the Senate floor.

“I’m specifically concerned about the lack of resources and the bipartisan commissioners at the CFTC, preventing regulatory arbitrage, as well as the ongoing corruption of public officials and whether Congress has created the correct guardrails to prevent those misdeeds,” he said in the release.

The legislation follows the passage of the CLARITY Act in the House in July. As PYMNTS reported in September, the Senate is under pressure to pass that bill before the year ends, as post-election political conditions may shift. Delaying passage into 2026 could make the adoption of a crypto markets bill more challenging.

For issuers in particular, the uncertainty around U.S. crypto regulation is especially disadvantageous as it leaves one of the world’s most liquid markets in limbo as regions, like the European Union , establish their own rules.