The US Senate Agriculture Committee unveiled a bipartisan draft bill on November 10, 2025, granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission primary oversight of digital commodities. Led by Senators John Boozman and Cory Booker, the legislation aims to clarify regulatory boundaries in the cryptocurrency sector. While it addresses key market structure issues, details on decentralized finance and asset definitions remain unresolved.
On Monday, November 10, 2025, shortly after the federal government reopened, the Senate Agriculture Committee released a discussion draft for a bipartisan crypto market structure bill. Republican Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas and Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey jointly introduced the proposal, which would establish a system of regulation for the offer and sale of digital commodities under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This move builds on the House-approved Clarity Act from July 2025 and seeks to delineate oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The draft assigns primary jurisdiction to the CFTC over transactions in digital assets, empowering the agency to regulate digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers. It includes requirements for spot markets such as fund segregation, conflict-of-interest management, customer disclosures, and prohibitions on affiliated trading. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum would be classified as digital commodities under CFTC supervision. A digital commodity is defined as a fungible asset transferable peer-to-peer via a distributed ledger, with exclusions for securities, stablecoins, and conventional commodities.
However, significant aspects remain bracketed for further feedback. Section 208 on decentralized finance is marked as seeking input, and definitions for terms like 'blockchain,' 'blockchain protocol,' and 'digital commodity' are not finalized. The Senate Banking Committee's July 2025 Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFI Act) complements this by addressing SEC-supervised 'ancillary assets,' which are quasi-crypto securities not regulated identically to traditional securities.
Senator Booker emphasized consumer protection in a press release: "More Americans are engaging with novel financial markets and payment systems than ever before, and Congress must take steps to strengthen and expand regulatory frameworks to protect consumers from predatory practices, keep our markets safe, and prevent bad actors from exploiting regulatory gaps."
The bill's path forward involves committee markups and reconciliation with the RFI Act, potentially delaying final passage until early 2026. Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham is advancing related efforts to enable exchanges to support cryptocurrencies, including leveraged trading. For the industry, this draft signals a shift toward clearer rules, potentially easing regulatory burdens for firms in custody, trading, and decentralized finance, though coordination between agencies and adequate CFTC funding remain concerns.
