## CFTC's first formal crypto-market rules: Regulation CTX + Regulation CAM

What happened

On Oct. 5, 2026, CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig proposed the agency's first formal crypto market-structure rulemaking, unveiled in a WSJ op-ed - "CFTC's New Rules for Crypto" and published as CFTC Release 9307-26.

It is an ANPRM - Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - i.e. notice of intent + request for comment, not final rules. Comments due within 60 days of Federal Register publication, to be posted on Regulations.gov.

Selig framed it explicitly as scrapping the Biden-era "regulation-by-enforcement" approach, after the Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act this month, acting instead under existing Commodity Exchange Act §2(c)(2)(D) authority (added by Dodd-Frank 2010) and President Trump's directive to use existing authority - following the joint CFTC-SEC interpretation earlier this year that a swath of crypto including bitcoin and ether are non-securities within CFTC authority.

### The two regulations

1. Regulation CTX - Crypto Asset Transactions

Fit-for-purpose rules for retail commodity transactions described in CEA §2(c)(2)(D) involving crypto assets ("CTXs") - i.e. retail trades that are leveraged, margined or financed. Solicits comment on:

preventing abusive practices in CTXs under a uniform national regime
crypto-specific guidance / industry best-practice for compliance (from CFTC oversight since 2014)

Preliminary reading: merely offering leverage counts - even in onboarding docs/terms - whether or not a customer uses it. Plan contemplates every such trade running through an FCM (Futures Commission Merchant), bringing BSA/AML, KYC and SAR obligations; token-listing diligence (distribution/concentration, lock-ups/vesting, programmatic issuance/buybacks); and proof-of-reserves for pooled customer assets.

2. Regulation CAM - Crypto Asset Markets

Codify a subcategory of DCM (Designated Contract Market) registration, purpose-built only for CTXs - an optional federal venue for crypto exchanges. A firm could still take the standard DCM route.

### Key design: opt-in federal on-ramp

Covers only CFTC-registered exchanges that list those non-security crypto assets.
Does NOT force spot crypto onto CFTC venues - Selig concedes that takes Congress, unlike the CLARITY Act.
The carrot: CAM-registered venues could offer retail customers margined, leveraged or financed trading under federal custody + anti-manipulation standards. State-licensed (money-transmitter) spot exchanges cannot.
Plain spot venues stay state-licensed + CFTC anti-fraud policing; perps/derivatives venues are already full DCMs.
Selig: Gensler-era "come in and register" (concede listings are securities, use legacy securities rules) is over; these rules account for distinctions between crypto assets and other commodities. But agency action can't substitute indefinitely for statute and a future Commission can unwind it.

Selig quote: *"Under my leadership, the Commission will take every necessary step to establish regulations that are designed to prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact, fraudulent schemes such as FTX."*

What the data does not establish: the full rule text and comment deadline date - only the ANPRM framework above has been published.