SEC and CFTC Rules Fall Short of CLARITY Act's Promise for XRP

The SEC and CFTC are working on new rules for cryptocurrencies without waiting for Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, which was intended to provide a clear regulatory framework for XRP. However, ChatGPT believes that these agency rules can only partially fill the gap left by the failed bill.

The SEC has the authority to write rules on token offerings and disclosure, while the CFTC already regulates commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC's proposed registration category for spot crypto trading would give XRP a more defined trading framework than it has today, but it wouldn't change its underlying legal classification.

Agency rules face two limits: they can only act within the power Congress has already given them under an existing statute, and a rule written under existing authority can be reversed by a future chair without needing Congress. The CLARITY Act was designed to fix both problems at once, but it failed to advance in the Senate.