CFTC seeks crypto platform feedback on regulatory framework through December 14
Key Facts
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has opened a consultation on a framework to regulate crypto asset transactions and markets, setting December 14, 2026 as the deadline for comments. The agency announced the advance notice of proposed rulemaking on October 5, 2026, ahead of its publication in the Federal Register on October 13. The framework targets platforms that allow retail customers to trade crypto assets on margin, with leverage or through financing, according to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig. The notice includes protection and custody arrangements for those customers' assets among the elements of the framework on which the agency is seeking feedback. The process remains at the advance notice stage, ahead of potential regulatory action later. The agency said in its statement that comments would guide "potential future Commission actions, such as rulemaking."
The framework envisages creating a category called a Crypto Asset Market, as a subset of the agency's existing designated contract market registration. According to the statement, this structure provides a registration pathway within the designated market framework, tailored to the crypto activity covered by the proposal. Selig described the pathway as a federal option for crypto exchanges offering the covered retail transactions. Requiring all crypto exchanges to register with the agency, however, would require legislative action by Congress, he said. He stressed the limits of that authority, saying "Congress alone has the authority" to impose such a requirement. Platforms offering futures, options or swaps, meanwhile, remain subject to the existing designated contract market framework, according to his remarks. The framework thus combines a registration category tailored to specified retail crypto transactions with the continued application of the existing framework to platforms offering those derivatives.
The proposed customer protection arrangements include requiring exchanges to provide proof of reserves when they hold customer assets in omnibus accounts on their behalf, according to Selig. This proposed obligation is tied to custody arrangements under which an exchange pools those assets on behalf of customers. The framework also envisages transactions being intermediated by a futures commission merchant, with the activity subject to customer protection requirements. Those requirements include segregation of customer assets, which Selig listed among the safeguards accompanying the proposed intermediation. He said customer-facing activity through this intermediary would also be subject to anti-money laundering requirements. The obligations also include customer identification and suspicious activity reporting, according to his remarks on the framework. Selig linked the proposal's preventive aim to stopping "FTX-style fraudulent schemes" before they occur.
The regulatory initiative also addresses the concept of actual delivery, which is linked to a statutory exception from the requirements for the retail transactions concerned. According to the text published in the Federal Register, the exception covers a contract of sale that results in actual delivery within 28 days. That period applies to delivery resulting from the sale transaction, subject to the conditions of the statutory exception. Selig said the proposed interpretation addresses the transfer of a crypto asset to an external, non-custodial digital wallet owned by the user. This approach places the transfer of the asset to the user's wallet within the agency's consideration of the meaning of actual delivery. The agency had previously announced the withdrawal of older guidance on actual delivery of virtual currencies, a step that preceded its reassessment of this area.
The move comes against a backdrop of legislative setbacks cited by Selig, who said Congress had failed to get the "Clarity Act" to the president's desk. That forms the backdrop to the agency's use of its existing powers to develop the proposed federal pathway. As part of its regulatory work on crypto assets and blockchain technology, the agency issued the original version of its questions and answers on March 20, 2026, and subsequently updated them. In coverage combining the regulatory development and bond market pressures, Investing reported that bitcoin rose 0.1% to $85,953.1. The cryptocurrency reached that level at 21:53 GMT, according to the site's report.
The issues open for comment include whether the Crypto Asset Market framework creates new conflicts of interest, according to the notice published in the Federal Register. The agency is seeking participants' views on how to mitigate those potential conflicts. It is also seeking feedback on ways to address them within the regulatory framework it is considering. The agency will use the consultation's findings to guide any subsequent action, including potentially moving to rulemaking. Comments must be received no later than December 14, 2026, according to the deadline specified in the notice.