A senior CFTC official has outlined a fallback plan for regulating digital-asset markets, signaling what the agency may do if Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act this year.

Michael Passalacqua, an official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, detailed the so-called plan B in remarks reported by CoinDesk, framing a path the regulator can take on its own authority while the market-structure bill remains stuck in the legislative process.

The disclosure matters for timing. The Clarity Act, the House-led bill that would divide crypto oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, has stalled. That leaves the two agencies to operate under existing statutory powers. Passalacqua's comments sketch how the CFTC intends to use them.

What does this change for crypto firms?

In practice, a stalled Clarity Act means no new law reallocating jurisdiction over spot digital-asset commodities. Firms that expected legislative clarity on which regulator supervises which tokens now face a longer wait. The CFTC's fallback approach would rely on tools the agency already holds: its authority over derivatives, fraud enforcement and registered entities such as designated contract markets.

For exchanges and trading platforms, that points to a continuation of the current arrangement. venues listing token futures or offering leveraged products deal with the CFTC under existing rules. Platforms in the spot market sit in a gap that only Congress can close. Passalacqua's plan B, as reported, addresses how the agency fills that gap through enforcement and oversight rather than new legislation.

Why the Clarity Act stalled

The bill passed committee in the House earlier this cycle but has not reached the President's desk. Disagreements over SEC jurisdiction, DeFi provisions and consumer-protection language slowed momentum. The Senate has its own version of market-structure legislation, and the two chambers have not reconciled their approaches.

That legislative friction creates operational consequences. Without a statutory framework, the CFTC and SEC continue to police digital assets under decades-old commodity and securities law. Agencies must stretch definitions written before crypto existed. Passalacqua's remarks acknowledge that reality and propose a workable interim posture.

The enforcement window ahead

The CFTC has historically leaned on anti-fraud and anti-manipulation authority in digital-asset cases. A plan B built on that foundation suggests more of the same: enforcement actions against fraud, oversight of listed derivatives, and pressure on platforms operating outside registration. Firms should read the comments as a signal that the agency will not sit idle while Congress negotiates.

What does this change for the market's timeline? It pushes the horizon for comprehensive rules further out and makes agency-level action the operative constraint on business models through the current legislative session.

Passalacqua's disclosure also fits a pattern. CFTC officials have repeatedly said they can oversee spot digital-asset commodity markets if Congress assigns them the job. Plan B appears to be that stance operationalized: using what the agency can do now, while the Clarity Act waits.

The practical watchpoint is the congressional calendar. If the Clarity Act does not move before the session ends, the fallback framework becomes the default posture for CFTC oversight of crypto markets heading into next year.