House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson and Ranking Member Angie Craig urged President Donald Trump to nominate a full, bipartisan slate of members to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
summary
- House agriculture leaders want Trump to take the CFTC seats before new cryptocurrency rules are implemented.
- CFTC hiring pressure rose after the Senate Banking Committee advanced CLARITY on a bipartisan vote of 15-9.
- Industry leaders said clearer rules could support tokenization, stablecoins, consumer protection, and compliant market growth.
May 15 letter He said the CFTC faces urgent work related to derivatives markets, new technology and changing market structures.
Congress and the White House are working on legislation that would expand the CFTC’s jurisdiction over spot digital commodity trades, the lawmakers said. They said the five-member committee would produce better regulations, more sustainable rules and broader input from derivatives market users.
The Senate vote adds pressure on the agency
The request came after the Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act by a vote of 15 to 9. The committee said the bill now moves to the Senate, where it would set federal rules for digital assets and market oversight.
Separate market updates He said The bill still faces a tougher path. The measure needs 60 votes in the Senate, the ethics provision remains unresolved, and the final text will still need to be reconciled with the House version before it reaches Trump’s desk.
Moreover, the CFTC already has a weak leadership seat. Board Chairman Michael Selig was the only commissioner in the five-seat agency and Reuters I mentioned In April, he told Congress that the agency would continue to set rules despite the empty seats.
Industry comments shared with crypto.news show why the issue of employment is important for cryptocurrency companies. “Creator input is essential to creating the best framework for digital assets,” Aptos Labs CEO Avery Cheng said. Investors want market access “not limited to legacy infrastructure,” said Jesse Knutson, chief operating officer at Bitfinex Securities.
DoubleZero’s general counsel, Mari Tumonen, said the bill helps create clearer legal boundaries for decentralized, non-custodial activities. Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan said the debate should move toward clearer rules on consumer protection, preventing illicit financing, and market transparency.
The burden of setting rules grows beyond the market structure
The CFTC’s current work also reaches into forecasting markets and innovation policy. Formerly Crypto.news I mentioned The agency has appointed members to its innovation task force as it expands work in cryptocurrency markets, artificial intelligence and forecasting.
The agency has also fought to protect its role in prediction markets. On May 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission foot Amicus curiae brief in the Sixth Circuit in the Calci case, saying it has exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets.
