CFTC Says Eligible Tokenized Assets May Support Customer Funds
The updated FAQ covers Regulation 1.25 investments, uncleared swaps margin and blockchain-based regulatory records.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission updated its crypto FAQ Sept. 24 to clarify that futures commission merchants and derivatives clearing organizations may invest customer funds in eligible tokenized forms of assets permitted under Regulation 1.25.
The treatment applies only when the underlying asset complies with the rule and the tokenized version gives holders the same or functionally equivalent legal and economic rights. The assets must also satisfy requirements covering liquidity, concentration, maturity and custody.
The update also confirms that qualifying tokenized assets may be used as margin for uncleared swaps, extending the guidance beyond customer-fund investments.
New responses labeled Q13 through Q15 address recordkeeping. Firms subject to the rules may create and retain regulatory records directly on a blockchain or distributed ledger without maintaining an additional off-chain copy solely because the records are on-chain.
For public, permissionless networks, firms must still ensure records can be retrieved and provided to the CFTC if the network or a block explorer becomes unavailable. The FAQ update builds on earlier CFTC guidance concerning tokenized collateral and digital assets accepted as margin collateral.
