One minute early in the morning: Selig announces that CFTC cryptocurrency regulatory rules have been lifted

The crypto market generally declined on Tuesday, with Bitcoin falling 3% to $83,400, but the US regulatory layer moved intensively: CFTC Chairman Mike Selig publicly said that it was time for cryptocurrency market structure rules to kick in ((It's Go Time), and a bitcoin cash ETF recorded net inflows of $347 million on the day, with cumulative net inflow over $2 billion over the past three days. Policy advances occurred simultaneously with price retracements, constituting the most noteworthy segmentation signals in the cost cycle.

Wait for Congress: CFTC to make its own rules

Just eight days after the Senate's defeat of the Clarity Act, Selig was clear in an interview with CNBC: "The CFTC will directly regulate crypto market structure based on existing statutory authority without waiting for new legislation".

His emphasis is on perpetuity contracts (perps). According to Morning Minute (Tyler Warner's daily newsletter), the CFTC can establish a designated contract market segment category for exchanges that offer leveraged crypto trading under its oversight, but cannot regulate spot markets. The latter still require congressional legislation to address them.

Selig's presentation also goes beyond cryptography. He suggests that regulators need to reassess all the rules for 24/7 on-chain markets, as future markets will be driven by algorithms and "agentic finance", i.e., software rather than people making transactions.

The week after the "no" vote has been one of policy's most intensive

The failure to pass the bill has instead triggered a series of administrative actions.Selig and SEC Chairman Atkins' remarks will continue in 24 hours, followed by one week:

• SEC approves five-year blockchain innovation waiver that allows tokenized U.S. stocks to be traded on the public chain without exchange registration, effective immediately
• SEC holds 24-hour trading roundtable with participation of NYSE, NASDAQ and DTCC
• CFTC issues no-objection letter allowing wallet apps to guide users into regulated derivatives without having to register as a broker
• SEC to submit crypto trustee proposal to White House Office of Management and Budget
• The CFTC submitted two preliminary rules to the White House: the Crypto Asset Trading Regulatory Code and the Crypto Assets Market Regulation Code, numbered RIN 3038-AF80

Hyperliquid leads the way with a perpetual contract

Lighter token Litecoin (LIT) hit a record high of $5.40 yesterday, just 1-2% below HYPE's all-time peak. Binance announced that it will launch the live trading of Hype Cash at 2pm EST. The two platforms are expected to announce more collaboration announcements as CFTC moves forward.

In terms of on-chain agreement revenue, Hyperliquid led the way with $2.12 million per day, followed by Pump at $1.83 million and Stonk at $9.58 million.

Stablecoin outflows and other noteworthy developments

The Trump administration is evaluating plans to move the dollar's stability abroad, possibly through a joint venture with private companies, in order to defend its reserve currency status and stimulate demand for U.S. bonds.

Other moves include: New Exchange signing a memorandum of understanding with Blockchain.com to distribute tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs through its digital ATS, covering more than 44 million accounts in over 70 jurisdictions pending regulatory approval; MoonPay's acquisition of North Capital for over $60 million in stock, taking out an SEC broker-dealer license and other licenses to deploy real assets as tokens; Coinbase launching fixed rate bitcoin mortgage loans based on Morpho Midnight, which has a floating interest book that exceeds $1.4 billion.[2]

In the derivatives market, about $15.9 billion worth of bitcoin options are set to expire on Friday along with quarterly deliveries in ethereum. The position is biased towards bearish options, which have a maximum pain point at $75,000, well below the spot price of around $85,500.

Summary of events

Mainstream currencies plunged 2-3%: BTC $83,400, ETH $2,650, SOL $113, HYPE $91 (-5%), ZEC led by 10% at $1,485. The uptick was preceded by LTC (+7%), Stable (+5%) and MORPHO (+4%).34 ETHWhat is it?

Follow-up views focused on the pace of CFTC rule landings and market direction choices after Friday's options expiry.