The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday named dozens of senior crypto executives to its Innovation Advisory Committee, pulling much of the digital-asset industry into its advisory orbit as Congress continues to grapple with unresolved questions in U.S. crypto regulation.
The committee includes executives from Coinbase, Uniswap Labs, Ripple, Kraken, Robinhood, CME Group, and Nasdaq, among others, in an unusually concentrated show of industry participation for an agency that currently regulates crypto derivatives but not spot trading.
“By bringing together participants from every corner of the marketplace, the IAC will be a major asset for the Commission as we work to modernize our rules and regulations for the innovations of today and tomorrow,” Selig said.
It comes as lawmakers in Congress continue to debate the nuances of the CLARITY Act, which seeks to regulate the U.S. crypto market by defining when digital assets fall under securities or commodities oversight.
Specifically, the bill aims to clarify the delineation between the CFTC’s oversight of digital commodities and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority over securities-like tokens.
While that division has largely been accepted across party lines, lawmakers and industry participants remain divided over how the legislation treats stablecoins, particularly whether crypto companies should be permitted to offer yield on dollar-pegged tokens.
It's an issue that has drawn sustained pressure from the banking industry and emerged as the bill’s most contentious provision.
Even as those disagreements persist, the CFTC has welcomed the addition of Coinbase's CEO, Brian Armstrong, to its committee.
Armstrong also warned the legislation would erode the CFTC’s authority, arguing it risked “stifling innovation” by making the agency “subservient to the SEC.”
