cft

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has submitted two rules for review to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). One rule aims to include event contracts within the regulatory definition of swaps, while the other is a "temporary final rule" that seeks to exclude "casino-style gambling products" from the scope of swaps.These two rules were received by the OMB this week, with the document dated September 28. OMB review is typically the last step before rules are submitted for public comment, and the temporary final rule will take effect immediately while allowing for subsequent public input and revisions.This move comes as the CFTC engages in a tug-of-war with multiple states over the nature of prediction markets. Event contracts are typically binary yes-or-no bets on measurable outcomes such as sports events and elections. Last week, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kalshi's sports contracts do not fall under swaps and should be governed by state gambling regulations, while the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals made a similar ruling; however, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals previously determined that the CFTC has jurisdiction over prediction markets, creating a legal divergence at the federal level. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig believes that the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets.If event contracts are classified as swaps and not as gambling products, it could weaken the positions of various states in multiple lawsuits against prediction market platforms like Kalshi. The CFTC is legally required to consist of five commissioners, but President Trump has yet to nominate additional commissioners, leaving Selig as the sole commissioner, who is unilaterally advancing regulatory and policy decisions. Additionally, information disclosed by the OMB indicates that the CFTC recently submitted a "pre-rule" focusing on cryptocurrency regulation to the White House.

According to Politico, citing three informed sources, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating former Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, related to his trading on the prediction market platform Kalshi. The relevant trades occurred between December 2024 and January 2025, completed through a Kalshi account associated with Kinzinger. He confirmed to the media that he had placed bets on contracts regarding whether he would receive a presidential pardon, while also betting on another contract about whether Biden would issue preemptive pardons before leaving office.In the final moments before Biden left office in January 2025, he issued preemptive pardons to Kinzinger and other members of the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot. Screenshots provided by Kinzinger show that he made a profit of $823 from approximately 25 trades, most of which were losses. He denied any wrongdoing, stating that he had been out of office for two years at the time of the bets, was neither a congressman nor a candidate, and had "no insider information." He also stated that he had read Kalshi's rules in advance and understood that they prohibit users from trading contracts directly related to their own interests. Kalshi prohibits users from betting on contracts in which they are direct participants, and the CFTC also prohibits the use of significant non-public information in its regulated markets.Kalshi had previously handled similar cases, suspending three congressional candidates in April for betting on their own campaigns, and freezing former Congressman George Santos's account, which was referred to the CFTC and the Department of Justice, leading to a lifetime ban at the end of August.

According to The Block, Coinbase Clearing LLC has been approved by the U.S. CFTC to register as a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), achieving a self-contained closed loop for brokerage, listing, and clearing.This approval only covers fully collateralized futures, options, and swap products, while leveraged derivatives still rely on third-party clearing. The company's legal director stated that the new clearing uses USDC as collateral and supports 24-hour settlement.

According to Cointelegraph, former commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Brian Quintenz stated at the Korea Blockchain Week 2026 that the Clarity Act is not the only way to achieve regulatory certainty for cryptocurrencies. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and CFTC can use their exemptions to fill this regulatory gap.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating prediction markets, focusing on the compliance of their incentive programs and expressing concerns about misleading promotional practices present in the market.

According to Crypto in America, former CFTC Chairman Russ Behnam stated at the Georgetown University Financial Markets Quality Conference that as prediction markets experience explosive growth, Congress urgently needs to clarify the boundary between risk management and gambling, and related lawsuits may ultimately be submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.Behnam also pointed out that after the Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate, the CFTC's reliance on existing authority to regulate the spot market is akin to "patching things up with tape and paperclips," and regulators urgently need to establish more durable rules.

The cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase's subsidiary Coinbase Markets announced that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved the launch of Coinbase Clearing LLC, which is Coinbase's own clearinghouse with USDC as its native collateral asset.Coinbase Markets stated that Coinbase Clearing is designed for round-the-clock settlement and supports USDC as collateral. The launch of this clearinghouse completes Coinbase's comprehensive layout of its regulated derivatives infrastructure.

The New Zealand Exchange O.G. Com has submitted an application to the CFTC to launch single stock perpetual futures, attempting to bring traditional stock leveraged trading into the DeFi space.

Summer Mersinger, former commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will step down as CEO of the industry advocacy organization Blockchain Association at the end of the year and leave the organization. The organization announced on Friday that Mersinger will officially resign on October 16, and her predecessor, Kristin Smith, will return as interim CEO. Mersinger joined Blockchain Association in June 2025, after leaving the CFTC three years before the end of her second commissioner term.When discussing her departure, Mersinger stated that she came here from the CFTC because she believes the industry deserves clear rules and a credible and unified representative to speak for it in Washington. The Blockchain Association highlighted Mersinger's work in promoting the GENIUS Act and helping to achieve regulatory clarity at the SEC and CFTC in its statement.Notably, the organization did not mention the Digital Asset Market Clear Act currently under consideration in the Senate. This bill failed to gain enough support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in a procedural vote earlier this month, and many experts expect the legislation to be shelved until 2027. The Blockchain Association did not immediately respond to inquiries about Mersinger's plans for 2027.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit against Cash FX Group S.A. and its CEO Huascar Jose Lopez Castillo, The Conversion Pros Inc. and its CEO Ronald Pope, Justin Halladay, accusing the aforementioned defendants of operating a multi-level marketing Ponzi scheme that raised over $950 million from the public, including in the United States, claiming it was for retail foreign exchange contract trading.The CFTC stated that the defendants falsely claimed that funds were traded by professional traders, proprietary algorithms, and AI, promising returns of up to 15% per week; in reality, Cash FX conducted only a small amount of foreign exchange trading, and almost all participant funds were misappropriated, paying fictitious trading profits to other participants using funds from new participants, while paying millions of dollars to the defendants. The CFTC claimed that Cash FX also provided participants with false account statements to maintain the illusion of high trading returns, resulting in participants losing at least $406 million. The CFTC is seeking to order the defendants to pay restitution, recover illegal profits, pay civil monetary penalties, and impose trading and registration bans as well as permanent injunctions.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has made it clear that commodity companies will not be penalized for allocating investor funds to tokenized assets. The CFTC also pointed out that the current regulatory framework allows institutions to use blockchain technology to maintain official records.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chris Giancarlo stated in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine that the expansion of government spending and currency depreciation has made Bitcoin's value proposition more prominent than ever. He believes that Bitcoin's fixed supply and scarcity make it a digital form of gold, and it is expected to become a monetary anchor in the future.Giancarlo pointed out that the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes and the continuous rise in U.S. debt levels will actually reinforce the value logic of Bitcoin. He also mentioned that the failure of the CLARITY Act to pass does not constitute a setback for Bitcoin, as the trend towards tokenized currency is irreversible. He anticipates that by 2036, all securities issuances will be tokenized.Regarding stablecoins, Giancarlo mentioned the GENIUS Act and its impact on the demand for U.S. Treasury bonds. He also reflected on his journey of becoming interested in Bitcoin after the 2008 financial crisis, as well as his experience of being dubbed the "Crypto Dad" due to his friendly attitude towards the crypto industry.

According to Decrypt, Mike Selig, the chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that after the Senate rejected the Clear Act, the CFTC will continue to advance the formulation of rules for the cryptocurrency market structure, saying "now is the time for action." Selig pointed out that the CFTC's existing statutory authority provides room for advancing the rules without waiting for Congress to pass new legislation.The agency will also reassess the current rules applicable to algorithmic and smart agent-driven 24/7 on-chain markets. Related arrangements may include establishing designated contract market categories that allow exchanges to offer cryptocurrency leveraged trading under CFTC regulation; however, the CFTC does not have the authority to regulate the spot market, and regulation of the spot market still requires legislation.

According to a post by Watcher Guru, the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Mike Selig, stated that the agency is preparing for onchain systems, mass tokenization, 24/7 trading, and agentic finance.The preparation directions mentioned by Selig include onchain systems, mass tokenization, 24/7 trading, and agentic finance.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) market regulatory department announced that prediction contracts based on whether specific individuals mention certain words or attend events face a high risk of market manipulation and can only be launched on designated contract markets under limited circumstances.CFTC recommends that relevant platforms assess whether individuals who can influence contract outcomes are bound by legal, professional, contractual, fiduciary, or confidentiality obligations, and take proactive trading rules and risk control measures to prevent manipulation.

Michael Selig, the chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that regulators need to prepare for "mass tokenization" and adjust existing markets for new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Selig mentioned at the U.S. Treasury Market Conference held by the New York Federal Reserve on Tuesday that developments like tokenization, on-chain finance, and 24/7 trading could lead to changes in the financial markets over the next decade that surpass the sum of the past several decades.Selig noted that the entire Trump administration laid the groundwork for the U.S. market to maintain its global leadership by embracing innovation, encouraging competition, and implementing reasonable regulations. The CFTC will also seek more ways to encourage market participants, exchanges, and clearinghouses to responsibly adopt stablecoins. Over the past year, the agency has issued guidance and sought public input on 24/7 trading in the energy derivatives market; in February of this year, the CFTC included stablecoins issued by National Trust Bank in the list of eligible collateral.Meanwhile, the CFTC's sister agency, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), released the highly anticipated "innovation exemption" last week, creating space for on-chain trading of tokenized stocks. After a bill regulating the cryptocurrency industry stalled in the Senate, the two agencies are advancing their respective agendas.

The launch of NVIDIA GPU rental price futures has encountered obstacles. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange originally planned to introduce computing power futures contracts in early October but is expected to be unable to obtain regulatory approval on time.The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is extending its review to study how the contracts operate and to solicit industry opinions.

According to CNBC, the prediction market platform Kalshi has submitted an application to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) through its clearing agency Kalshi Klear, seeking to introduce margin trading for certain event contracts, allowing eligible traders to use leverage.Currently, event contracts on U.S. regulated exchanges require full collateral, and while Kalshi has offered leverage in its perpetual futures business, it has not yet been authorized to apply this to the prediction market. Kalshi stated that this feature aims to attract more institutional liquidity and, if approved, will only be available to self-clearing members that meet capital requirements, excluding sports, cultural, and "mention-type" markets. The company also plans to increase margin requirements as contracts approach expiration.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is fulfilling its earlier commitment to rapidly advance cryptocurrency regulatory rules. Previously, a landmark digital asset bill failed to progress in the U.S. Senate this week.As the futures and swaps regulatory agency that was originally set to become the main regulatory body for the cryptocurrency market under the CLARITY Act, the CFTC has submitted a new proposal aimed at regulating cryptocurrency asset trading and markets for White House review. Information released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday indicates that the proposal was accepted on Thursday.

On September 17, 2026, the Market Participants Division of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it has issued a no-action position to passive software providers, similar to Staff Letter 26-09, which is now broadly applicable to such providers.The letter states that, subject to several specified conditions, the Division will not recommend that the Commission take enforcement action against any such provider or its related persons for failing to register as a introducing broker or an introducing broker affiliate. This position only applies to those who provide and market software to users for trading with registered futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and designated contract markets.This announcement came just hours after the sister agency, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued an innovation exemption.