US Crypto Regulation and Market Structure Advance: CFTC Rulemaking Meets Coinbase's Stock-Perps Push

The American crypto industry saw two significant developments on the regulatory and market-structure front today, signaling that momentum toward clearer rules and expanded product access continues even after a legislative setback in Washington.

CFTC Advances Rulemaking Despite CLARITY Act Delay

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has formally submitted a package of proposed crypto rules to the White House for review, just two days after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate. The proposal, titled "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets," represents the agency's attempt to move forward on digital asset oversight independently of stalled congressional action.

The timing is notable. The CLARITY Act, which would have established a comprehensive market-structure framework dividing oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, has faced repeated delays amid partisan disagreement in the Senate. Rather than waiting for legislators to resolve their differences, the CFTC appears intent on using its existing rulemaking authority to bring more certainty to how crypto assets and trading venues are regulated.

For market participants, this signals that regulatory clarity may arrive through agency action even if legislative reform continues to stall. It also reinforces a broader theme this year: US regulators are increasingly willing to act unilaterally on crypto oversight rather than wait indefinitely for Congress.

Coinbase Moves to Bring Single-Stock Perpetuals to US Traders

On the corporate side, Coinbase has taken a concrete step toward expanding its US derivatives offering. The exchange filed two notice registrations with the SEC — a Form 1-N for Coinbase Derivatives LLC and a Form BD-N for Coinbase Financial Markets Inc., both dated September 1 — as part of a bid to launch single-stock perpetual futures domestically.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad described the filings as an initial step, noting that approval from the CFTC would still be required before the product could launch. The filings themselves do not specify which individual stocks would be included or which categories of US customers might eventually gain access.

This effort builds directly on a product Coinbase already offers to eligible customers outside the United States: stock perpetual futures tracking major names such as Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla, alongside contracts tied to the SPY and QQQ exchange-traded funds. Bringing that same exposure to the US market would mark a meaningful expansion of Coinbase's "everything exchange" strategy, which already spans crypto derivatives, thematic stock-index perpetuals, and prediction markets.

What This Means for the US Crypto Market

Taken together, these two developments illustrate a market that is advancing on two fronts simultaneously. Regulators are pressing ahead with formal rulemaking even as legislative reform remains gridlocked, while major exchanges like Coinbase continue to file the groundwork for new products well before final approval is secured. Neither development guarantees an immediate change for traders, but both point toward a US crypto market structure that is inching closer to the kind of regulated, product-rich environment long promised by industry advocates.

Investors and industry participants will want to watch how the White House responds to the CFTC's submission, and whether the SEC and CFTC move in tandem to evaluate Coinbase's request — outcomes that could shape the shape of US crypto derivatives trading for years to come.