Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said the Clarity Act remains within reach, days after Congress missed its July 4 goal to pass the crypto market structure bill. “We’re so close. We have to get this done,” Selig told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
Some analysts give the measure an even chance of passage before the Aug. 7 break.
The bill would split oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a split the industry has sought for years. The Danish Parliament passed the law last summer. The Senate has not yet held a floor vote.
Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, supported the Clarity Act effort as a matter of national competitiveness. He supported the effort as a matter of national competitiveness.
“It’s critical that we have a federal standard for cryptoassets,” he said, pointing to a patchwork of state laws that, by his account, have hurt American business. He described the goal as safety, clarity and consumer protection and called the measure bipartisan. “We have to get it over the line,” he said.
Asked about the holdup, Selig pointed to the extent. Democrats have pushed for ethical language targeting President Trump, his family and their crypto projects, a demand he characterized as a distraction.
“There’s a little bit of creep on ethics and other issues, and they’re just derailing the real possibility of getting a bipartisan bill,” he said.
Democrats have framed the Clarity Act provisions as consumer protections. The bill has also drawn controversy over illegal funding rules and over a reopened section of the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law that relates to whether exchanges can pay returns on stablecoin balances.
Senator Cynthia Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, has said negotiators aim to release the bill and hold a vote this month.
The committee advanced the measure on a 15-9 vote, with two Democrats joining the Republicans. Lawmakers have warned that failure to act before recess could delay the next opening for years.
Selig on prediction markets, Iran beyond Clarity Act
Bartiromo also asked Selig about prediction markets, with Kalshi and Polymarket handling a combined $24 billion in volume over the past year.
Selig said the CFTC has proposed rules for the sector and has sued nine states in a battle over jurisdiction. In markets during the US attack on Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, he said crypto was holding its ground and acting as a hedge while the agency worked to keep the oil and derivatives markets in order.
For now, the Clarity Act’s fate rests on released text, a Senate vote and a calendar that goes a few weeks before the August recess.