CFTC Moves To Build Crypto Market Framework Under Existing Powers
Chairman Michael S. Selig directed staff to explore rules that could let registered and nonregistered exchanges offer leveraged or margined trading under CFTC oversight.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will develop a framework for crypto-asset markets using its existing authority, Chairman Michael S. Selig said, creating a potential regulatory path if Congress does not pass market-structure legislation.
Selig directed CFTC staff on Aug. 20 to explore rules that would establish the framework. The approach could allow current registrants and nonregistered crypto exchanges to receive a new “crypto asset market” designation, a type of designated contract market under CFTC rules.
Those venues could potentially offer leveraged or margined crypto trading under the agency’s oversight. Selig said the CFTC would move swiftly to propose rules if the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act failed to advance.
The Senate later failed to advance the legislation, which was intended to establish statutory market-structure rules and define the CFTC’s and Securities and Exchange Commission’s roles. The scope of any CFTC framework, including the assets, exchanges and trading products covered, has not been announced.
