CFTC leaders agree outdated rules hinder crypto regulation, says Garlinghouse

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse walked out of the CFTC’s first-ever Innovation Advisory Committee meeting with a message for the crypto industry: the people writing the rules finally agree the rulebook is outdated. The August 20 meeting brought together the 35-member committee, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, and a regulatory posture that looks notably different from the enforcement-first approach that defined the agency’s prior era. Garlinghouse, who was appointed to the committee back in February, framed the gathering as evidence that Washington is genuinely moving toward regulatory clarity rather than just talking about it. The CFTC’s Plan B takes shape Selig directed CFTC staff to begin exploring how existing regulatory authorities could be used to build a structured framework for crypto markets. The trigger for that contingency plan: the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the sweeping legislative effort designed to draw clear jurisdictional lines between the CFTC and SEC, is stuck in the Senate. Getting the Clarity Act across the finish line requires 60 votes in the Senate. Partisan divides have made that math difficult. Selig acknowledged this reality directly, noting that without l...