CFTC Chairman Selig: New rules will promote crypto innovation and protect investors, marking a major shift in U.S. federal crypto regulation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael S. Selig announced on October 5 that the CFTC has formally proposed its first set of regulatory rules for the cryptocurrency market, aimed at promoting innovation and protecting investors. Previously, as Congress failed to pass legislation clarifying the federal legal status of crypto assets, the CFTC and the SEC turned to relying on existing statutory authority to take the lead in developing market structure rules. During the previous administration, the two major regulators primarily targeted crypto exchanges, custodians, and software developers through enforcement actions, prompting a large number of crypto companies to relocate overseas. The introduction of the new rules marks a significant shift in U.S. federal crypto regulation from a strategy of "enforcement instead of legislation" to "proactive rulemaking".