CFTC opens consultation on retail crypto trading and a federal venue framework

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission opened a public consultation Monday on a federal framework for retail crypto transactions and a new category of registered trading venue. The action moves its Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets initiative into a public request for comment after the agency sent it for White House review in September.

The advance notice focuses on crypto transactions covered by section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC is asking how to prevent abusive practices, explain crypto-specific compliance practices and establish a crypto asset market as a subcategory of designated contract market registration.

The agency announced the consultation on its official X account Monday morning.

For exchanges, the intended framework would offer a federal registration path tailored to crypto trading. Chairman Michael Selig, in an opinion piece published on the CFTC website Monday, said registered platforms would be permitted to offer retail trading with margin, leverage or financing under the envisioned rules. Those arrangements let customers take positions financed in part by borrowed money.

Selig also identified a limit on the agency's authority: it cannot require all crypto assets to trade on CFTC-registered platforms without congressional action. He described the contemplated system as an option for exchanges that want to operate under one federal market regulatory scheme. His statement addresses the intended framework; Monday's notice does not itself establish those permissions.

The spot-market gap would remain. CoinDesk reported Monday, citing agency officials, that the initiative does not replace state money-transmission regulation governing ordinary direct crypto purchases. The CFTC retains power to police fraud and manipulation in those markets, but the contemplated registration system would focus on more complex trading involving leverage, margin or financing.

The initiative went to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review on September 17, according to The Block's reporting the following day. The CFTC declined to discuss details at that stage. Monday's consultation puts the agency's intended scope before the public and asks market participants to respond.

The CFTC says written comments are due within 60 days of the notice's publication in the Federal Register. It plans to use those responses to inform potential future action. The release does not give a calendar deadline, and the advance notice is an early rulemaking step. Final requirements and an effective date remain unsettled.