The CFTC updated its FAQs to let firms hold already-permitted investments in tokenized form and use blockchain for recordkeeping. The agency stopped short of approving direct customer-fund investment in Bitcoin or Ether, even as certain crypto assets can now serve as margin collateral under specific conditions.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has updated its FAQs to bring tokenization and blockchain infrastructure closer to existing rules, without creating a new regulatory track for crypto. Three CFTC divisions, the Market Participants Division, the Division of Market Oversight, and the Division of Clearing and Risk, addressed two specific issues rather than rewriting the framework from scratch.
Tokenized assets get a clearer path
The CFTC clarified that assets already permitted under its rules, such as U.S. Treasuries, corporate bonds, or money-market fund shares, can now be held in tokenized form, provided the token carries the same legal and economic rights as the underlying asset. This matters because Regulation 1.25 sets strict rules on where futures commission merchants and derivatives clearing organizations can invest customer money. Eligible investments can now be tokenized, but they must still meet requirements covering liquidity, concentration limits, maturity, and custody.
However, this does not mean the CFTC has approved direct investment of customer funds in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ether. Staff Letter 26-05 did not expand the list of permitted customer-fund investments; instead, its framework concerns certain crypto assets being accepted as margin collateral, subject to specific conditions.
Blockchain recordkeeping wins approval
The CFTC also gave the green light to blockchain and distributed ledger technology for regulatory recordkeeping. As a result, regulated entities can maintain on-chain records instead of relying entirely on traditional databases, though those records must still meet existing requirements for authenticity, reliability, retention, and accessibility. The change could reduce the need to maintain separate on-chain and off-chain records, but the CFTC has also made firms responsible for producing records even during network outages or other disruptions.
Remarking on the update, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said it aims to "provide regulatory clarity for the crypto industry".
Wider regulatory picture remains stalled
The update comes after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate on the 15th of September, following months of stalled negotiations between Republicans and Democrats. Yet Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire and Michael Saylor argued that blockchain adoption and industry development will continue even without a comprehensive market-structure law.
Source: AMBCrypto
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