CFTC | Crypto

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) revised a previous staff letter to reflect the regulations in the GENIUS stablecoin framework. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a US financial regulator, reissued a staff letter on Friday to expand the criteria for payment stablecoins to include national trust banks, recognizing their eligibility to issue the fiat-pegged tokens. The CFTC amended Staff Letter 25-40, which was issued on December 8, 2025, to include national trust banks, financial institutions allowed to function in all 50 US states. National Trust Banks typically do not provide retail banking services like lending or checking accounts. Instead, they offer custodial services, act as executors on behalf of clients and provide asset management services. The CFTC letter said: Read more

CFTC Chair Mike Selig described the proposal as a “frolic into merit regulation” by the Biden administration. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has withdrawn a Biden administration-era proposal that would have banned sports and political prediction markets, some of the most popular event contracts today. The recently confirmed CFTC chair, Mike Selig, said on Wednesday that the agency has withdrawn a 2024 notice of proposed rulemaking that sought to ban event contracts for sports, politics and war, among other topics, classifying them as “contrary to the public interest.” Selig said the proposal “reflected the prior administration’s frolic into merit regulation with an outright prohibition on political contracts ahead of the 2024 presidential election,” adding that CFTC doesn’t plan to issue final rules on the proposal. Read more

A Nevada judge has temporarily barred prediction market Polymarket from offering event contracts in the state, pushing back against claims that only the CFTC can police those markets. A Nevada state judge has temporarily forced onchain prediction market Polymarket to halt business in the state, with a ruling that challenges the industry’s argument that federal commodities law preempts state gambling rules.  In a Thursday order seen by Cointelegraph, the court granted the Nevada Gaming Control Board a 14‑day temporary restraining order (TRO) against Polymarket operator Blockratize. The order bans Polymarket from offering event‑based contracts to Nevada residents while the case develops. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11. The order leans on Nevada gambling statutes, finding at this early stage that Polymarket’s sports and other event markets constitute unlicensed wagering rather than regulated financial products.  Read more

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig spoke on CNBC on Thursday as debate continues over stablecoin yield in the CLARITY Act. US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday to discuss the crypto market structure bill and a White House–hosted meeting scheduled for Monday. The bill was recently held up in the Senate, where it is undergoing committee review after being passed in the House of Representatives, with lawmakers working through unresolved issues on the Agriculture and Banking Committees. One of the central sticking points in the legislation is how stablecoin yield should be treated, an issue that has divided traditional banks and crypto companies. Coinbase recently withdrew support for the bill, citing concerns over several provisions, including those related to yield. Read more

The US financial regulator has just one Senate-confirmed commissioner, leading to lawmakers' concerns about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's balance and effectiveness. US lawmakers are expected to return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday after inclement weather delayed committee meetings and votes, with attention turning to how senators will handle proposed amendments to a long-awaited crypto market structure bill. On Thursday, senators on the Senate Agriculture Committee are scheduled to meet for a markup on the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), a bill to establish a digital asset market structure framework. The markup is one of the first attempts by the chamber to advance market structure legislation amid the Senate Banking Committee postponing its markup after Coinbase pulled its support for the bill. Read more

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman on Jan. 21 released updated text for a crypto market structure bill and set a committee markup for Jan. 27. The draft bill, titled the “Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act,” would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) a defined framework to supervise parts of the spot crypto market when […] The post CFTC’s $150 million war chest to stop failing crypto exchanges delaying withdrawals and weaponize complaints appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The two U.S. markets regulators will have a joint event to highlight their unified crypto agenda, following the arrival of permanent CFTC chief Mike Selig.

Michael Selig named two people as senior advisers, one of whom helped with a law firm‘s letter that led to an SEC no-action letter on crypto custodians. Michael Selig, chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced the appointment of a senior adviser with experience in litigating crypto and blockchain cases.  In a Tuesday notice, Selig said Michael Passalacqua, a former associate at international law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, would join the CFTC as a senior adviser. Selig cited Passalacqua’s experience with “financial regulatory matters involving crypto assets and blockchain technologies.”  “Earlier in his career, [Passalacqua] served as assistant general counsel at a crypto asset capital markets firm where he advised on a range of crypto asset regulatory and transactional matters,” said Selig. Read more

The CFTC is looking to invite Tyler Winklevoss, Shayne Coplan, Kris Marszalek, and other crypto leaders to assist its approach to regulating the blockchain industry. US Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Mike Selig has unveiled the agency’s new innovation committee, aimed at guiding the regulation of emerging technologies like blockchain and AI, which are transforming financial markets. The Innovation Advisory Committee replaces the Technology Advisory Committee and is looking to bring top crypto voices into the CFTC’s process to shape practical, forward-looking market regulations, Selig said on Monday. The new committee will advise the CFTC on the “commercial, economic, and practical considerations of emerging products, platforms, and business models in the financial markets so that it can develop clear rules of the road for the Golden Age of American Financial Markets,” Selig said. Read more

The no-action letter comes amid growing acceptance by US regulators of prediction-style markets and event contracts during an election year. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a US financial regulator, issued a no-action letter to crypto derivatives exchange Bitnomial on Thursday, clearing the way for the exchange to offer event contracts and prediction markets. The CFTC letter alleviates Bitnomial from the strict reporting requirements for asset swaps under current US rules, a hurdle that is impractical for fast-moving platforms like prediction markets, where tens of thousands of these swaps may occur in a day. Bitnomial must still provide transparent consumer-facing data on its website, including timestamps and sales data for contract markets, and provide relevant data to the CFTC when requested, according to the terms of the letter. All positions must also be collateralized, meaning they cannot be leveraged and must be backed 1:1 to ensure liquidity and prevent cascading liquidations that thr...

The former CFTC commissioner and Donald Trump’s first pick to chair the agency will join investment company SUI Group's board and support the company’s treasury strategy. US President Donald Trump’s former pick to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has joined the SUI Group’s board of directors. In a Tuesday notice, the SUI Group said former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz’s appointment to its board would strengthen its “regulatory and policy leadership” amid the company’s digital asset treasury strategy. The company reported holding 107,743,979 Sui (SUI), worth about $200 million at the time of publication, as of the third quarter of 2025.  Quintenz served as a CFTC commissioner under Trump from 2017 to 2021 and later as the global head of policy for a16z crypto. He joined the board of directors for prediction market platform Kalshi in 2021, and worked as an adviser to cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com from 2021 to 2022.  Read more

After holiday leadership shifts, the two U.S. markets regulators — the SEC and CFTC — are now run only by pro-crypto Republicans, with Congress still debating.

Amir Zaidi’s return signals a strengthening of crypto oversight as the agency prepares for new digital asset laws. The key policy maker who oversaw the launch of regulated Bitcoin futures in the US has returned as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s chief of staff after a six-year hiatus.  In a Wednesday announcement, the CFTC welcomed back Amir Zaidi with chairman Michael Selig emphasizing the wealth of experience Zaidi will bring.  “I’m grateful for his willingness to return as chief of staff and for his continued dedication and service to both the CFTC and our stakeholders. Amir was instrumental in the historic launch of CFTC-regulated bitcoin futures contracts during President Trump’s first term,” Selig said. Read more

CFTC acting chair Caroline Pham says Monday was her last day at the regulator, with Michael Selig being officially sworn in to chair the agency. The US commodities watchdog has a new leader. Michael Selig was sworn in as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday as acting chair Caroline Pham departed the agency after nearly a year at the helm. Pham, who had been serving as the CFTC’s acting chair since January and its sole commissioner since August, said on Monday that it would be her last day at the agency. Meanwhile, the CFTC confirmed that Selig was sworn in as the agency’s 16th chairman on Monday after being nominated for the role by President Donald Trump on Oct. 27 and confirmed by the Senate on Thursday. Read more

Following Michael Selig's confirmation, White House official David Sacks said the SEC and CFTC were set to offer "clear regulatory guidelines" for digital assets. US President Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar has signaled that the White House may have all the pieces in place for digital asset regulation following the confirmation of Michael Selig to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In a Monday X post, David Sacks said the US was at a “critical juncture” for crypto regulation, and that Selig and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins made up a “dream team to define clear regulatory guidelines.” Sacks’ comments were in response to Selig saying that the US Congress was preparing to complete work on a crypto market structure bill.  “We are at a unique moment as a wide range of novel technologies, products, and platforms are emerging, retail participation in the commodity markets is at an all-time high, and Congress is poised to send digital asset market structure legislation that wil...

Mike Selig pledged to make crypto a priority when he was picked to lead the CFTC in October, while Travis Hill has spoken out against crypto debanking. The US Senate has confirmed crypto-friendly lawyer Mike Selig as the new chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has elevated Travis Hill to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The two confirmations were included in a package of nearly 100 other nominees that the Trump administration had selected for various roles across the government, which passed the Senate in a 53-43 vote on Thursday. Selig, who has previous experience at the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, pledged to make crypto a priority when he was nominated in October after he was picked to take over from the previous nominee, Brian Quintenz. Read more

In a package of confirmations, the U.S. Senate approved Mike Selig to lead the CFTC and Travis Hill to run the FDIC, both with major potential reach into crypto.

The US regulator's green light lets Bitnomial’s clearinghouse support prediction markets linked to crypto and economic events, expanding its regulated product and clearing offerings. Bitnomial Clearinghouse LLC received approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to clear fully collateralized swaps, enabling its parent company, Bitnomial, to launch prediction markets and offer clearing services to other platforms. According to Friday’s announcement, Bitnomial’s prediction market will cover crypto and economic events, alongside its existing Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto derivatives products. The contracts are designed to allow traders to take positions on outcomes, such as token price levels and macroeconomic data. The approval expands the umbrella of the trading products offered by Bitnomial. Based in Chicago, the company’s exchange and clearing arms offer perpetuals, futures, options contracts and leveraged spot trading. The company’s clearinghouse also supports crypto-based margin and settle...

Senators could vote on Michael Selig's nomination to head the CFTC, which, if successful, is expected to lead to the departure of acting Chair Caroline Pham. Update (Dec. 11 at 7:35 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a Thursday policy announcement from Caroline Pham. The top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee said the full chamber could vote on US President Donald Trump’s pick to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission “maybe as soon as this afternoon.” In a prepared statement for a Thursday hearing on CFTC reauthorization, Committee Chair Glenn Thompson said the Senate could vote on Michael Selig’s nomination to chair the agency on Thursday. The potential vote would come just a few weeks after the Agriculture Committee advanced Selig’s nomination to the full chamber, along partisan lines.  Read more

The pilot program allows futures commission merchants to accept Bitcoin, Ether and USDC for margin collateral, provided strict reporting criteria are followed. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued updated guidance for tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, paving the way for a pilot program to test how cryptocurrencies can be used as collateral in derivatives markets. Collateral in derivatives markets serves as a security deposit, acting as a guarantee to ensure that a trader can cover any potential losses.  The digital asset pilot, announced by CFTC acting chairman Caroline Pham on Monday, will allow futures commission merchants (FCM) — a company that facilitates futures trades for clients — to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Circle’s stablecoin USDC (USDC) for margin collateral. Read more