U.S. CFTC Floats Rule to Route Retail Leveraged Crypto Trading Through FCMs; BTC Named a "Digital Commodity"

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking feedback on a pre-proposed rulemaking package covering Crypto Asset Trading Rules (CTX) and Crypto Asset Market Rules (CAM), according to ME News. The notice, dated Oct. 6 (UTC+8) and issued by CFTC Chair Michael Selig, would require margin, leveraged, or otherwise financed crypto trading offered to retail customers to be conducted through a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM). Under the proposal, FCMs facilitating such activity would be subject to core obligations including customer asset segregation, capital adequacy standards, and related anti-money laundering requirements. On the market-structure side, the draft CAM framework would introduce proof-of-reserves requirements for exchanges that hold customer assets in omnibus accounts. The CFTC also said it plans to clarify the scope of the "actual delivery" exception under CTX: crypto assets transferred to a user's external noncustodial wallet within 28 days would generally qualify as actual delivery. Separately, the agency is evaluating a longer-term regulatory approach for developers that only provide software, without soliciting or receiving orders, controlling execution, or custodying customer assets. The notice references a joint CFTC-SEC view on crypto-asset classification, citing BTC, ETH, SOL, XLM, XTZ, and XRP as examples of "digital commodities." (Source: Foresight News)