CFTC | Crypto

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff has provided answers to frequently asked questions about the agency’s expectations around a crypto collateral pilot. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has given more details on its expectations for the use of crypto as collateral amid a pilot program that the agency launched last year. In a notice on Friday, the CFTC’s Market Participants Division and Division of Clearing and Risk responded to frequently asked questions that emerged from two staff letters issued in December that established a pilot allowing crypto to be used as collateral in derivatives markets. The notice reminded futures commission merchants wanting to take part in the pilot that they must file a notice with the Market Participants Division “which includes the date on which it will commence accepting crypto assets from customers as margin collateral.” Read more

The no-action position taken by the US regulator under Chair Michael Selig will allow the company to engage in certain activities without registering as a broker. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Tuesday that its Market Participants Division issued a no-action letter in response to a request from crypto wallet provider Phantom Technologies. A CFTC notice said that the no-action letter would, under certain circumstances, stop the division from recommending that the regulator take an enforcement action against Phantom or its staff for failure to register as a broker. According to Phantom, the no-action position will allow the company to “act as a non-custodial interface connecting users to a registered exchange [...] without taking on the regulatory obligations of an introducing broker.”  Read more

The SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding to do a better job providing a combined regulatory approach to the digital asset sector.

“This ends today,“ said CFTC Chair Michael Selig, who has been reiterating his position that the agency has exclusive jurisdiction overseeing prediction markets platforms. Update (March 12 at 8:56 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from CME Group Chief Executive Terry Duffy. Michael Selig, chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has proposed a rule that could amend or issue new regulations over event contracts on prediction markets platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. In a Thursday notice, the CFTC issued a staff advisory classifying event contracts on prediction markets as a “financial asset class.” The regulator also submitted an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to be published in the Federal Register, asking for public comment on how the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) would apply to prediction markets. Read more

The SEC and CFTC said they would adopt a “minimum effective dose” regulatory strategy to foster innovation while maintaining market integrity and keep the US competitive globally. Two of the US’s most influential financial regulators have agreed to better coordinate oversight of the financial markets, seeking to put an end to decades of “regulatory turf wars” between them. According to the memorandum of understanding written on Wednesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said it has become a “pivotal time” to regulate in harmony as new technologies, such as crypto, make it more challenging to monitor the markets: “New trading models, digital infrastructure, and onchain, automated systems increasingly blur traditional jurisdictional lines,” they said, particularly as market participants operate across platforms and asset classes. Read more

Michael Selig said blockchain-powered prediction markets could improve price discovery and public information, even as several US states challenge the platforms in court. US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Michael Selig has voiced support for prediction markets paired with blockchain technology, claiming they could become powerful tools for discovering truth. Speaking at the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, on Monday, Selig argued that prediction markets, also known as event contracts, can provide valuable signals about future events when participants put money behind their views, describing well-functioning markets as “truth machines.” “When participants express views on future events — and back those views with capital — they create accountability, transparency and information,” Selig said. He added that highly liquid prediction markets often produce signals that the public increasingly sees as more reliable than traditional opinion polls. Read more

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig wants to bring perpetual futures home, and it could happen as early as next month, according to his latest statement. In January remarks titled “Limitless: Onshoring True Perpetual Derivatives,” he laid out a vision for pulling crypto's most widely used leverage tool into US regulatory territory. Selig framed perps as instruments […] The post Bitcoin’s $85 billion derivatives engine may move onshore as CFTC eyes April approval appeared first on CryptoSlate.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig addressed market structure, prediction markets and perpetual futures at a Tuesday event. Michael Selig, chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the agency will soon address how to handle perpetual futures contracts for cryptocurrencies. In a Tuesday panel hosted by the Milken Institute in Washington, DC, Selig said that the CFTC was working toward getting “true perpetual futures” in the United States “within the next month or so.” The CFTC chair is currently the only Senate-confirmed commissioner, with no indication as of Tuesday that US President Donald Trump will nominate anyone to fill any of the agency’s four vacant commissioner slots. Read more

Michael Selig said the US financial regulator had filed an amicus brief against what he called an “onslaught of state-led litigation” against prediction markets. Michael Selig, who chairs the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Donald Trump, said the agency would be responding to what he called an “onslaught of state-led litigation” against prediction market platforms. In a video posted to X on Tuesday, Selig said that the CFTC had filed an amicus brief, also known as a “friend of the court” brief, to “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” in regulating prediction markets, which he equated to derivatives markets. The chair warned that any state-level entities challenging the CFTC’s authority over such markets would be met in court. “Prediction markets aren’t new — the CFTC has regulated these markets for over two decades,” said Selig. “They provide useful functions for society by allowing everyday Americans to hedge commercial risks [...] they also serve as an important check on our news medi...

CFTC Chair forms a new Innovation Advisory Committee packed with crypto, exchange, and prediction-market CEOs Most crypto traders barely think about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission until something breaks, a lawsuit hits, or a Bitcoin futures headline crosses their feed. In the popular mental map of US regulation, the SEC is the one staring at […] The post CFTC chair just built a 35-seat crypto mega-panel, and it changes the SEC vs CFTC fight appeared first on CryptoSlate.

CFTC chair Mike Selig launched the Innovation Advisory Committee in January, nominating 12 members as charter members before expanding the final list to 35 on Thursday. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has added a slew of crypto executives, including those from Coinbase and Ripple, to its Innovation Advisory Committee, who will shape how the regulator crafts policy. CFTC chair Mike Selig said on Thursday that the 35 members of the committee will “ensure the CFTC’s decisions reflect market realities” and enable it to “develop clear rules of the road for the Golden Age of American Financial Markets.” The committee launched in January, replacing the Technology Advisory Committee, which drew on the advice of tech leaders to dissect how new technologies were impacting the derivatives markets more broadly. Read more

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