US Lawmakers Propose Placing Cryptocurrency Market Under CFTC Oversight

• The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee presented its version of the bill on the structure of the crypto market.
• The document complements the CLARITY Act passed by the House of Representatives and RFIA from the US Banking Committee.
• The new bill transfers oversight of spot trading to the CFTC.

On November 10, 2025, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry introduced a bill on cryptocurrency market structure. Unlike its counterparts, such as the CLARITY Act, the initiative effectively transfers oversight of the sector to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The bill is authored by Senators John Boozman and Cory Booker. The initiative is in its early stages, with many points of contention and inaccuracies in the text. The authors recognize that they have many problems to solve before submitting the bill to the Senate.

A distinctive feature of the bill is the transfer of the leading role of the regulator CFTC, rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In particular, Boozman noted that it is the former agency that is the “more appropriate” option to oversee spot trading in the crypto market.

A thesis of the new bill’s provisions:

• A definition of concepts such as “blockchain,” “digital commodity,” “DeFI,” “DAO,” and others.
• A mechanism for licensing of service providers, broker/dealers, and market oversight.
• A list of requirements for counterparties in terms of information disclosure, risk management, and client protection.
• A clear division of roles in overseeing the sector, the powers of the CFTC and SEC.
• Expansion of the CFTC’s authority, transferring new resources to the agency for these purposes.

The bill has so far been submitted as a draft for discussion. Before it reaches the Senate, the text of the document may undergo some changes.

The current bill is part of a large-scale, “three-layer” regulatory framework for the crypto asset market in the US. It is based on the CLARITY framework bill passed by the US House of Representatives in the summer of 2025.

It has since been referred to the Senate for further consideration. Committees are expected to prepare their own versions of the framework to complement the CLARITY Act or serve as the basis for a new initiative.

In late July 2025, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025 (RFIA). It also relies to some extent on the CLARITY Act, but focuses primarily on the authority of the SEC.