US CFTC Chair: Multiple crypto trading platforms interested in joining federal regulatory framework, registered platforms may add spot trading

November 13, according to CNBC, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig stated that several major crypto trading platforms and new entrants are interested in adopting the agency's proposed federal regulatory framework. Some major trading platforms are already registered with the CFTC for offering derivatives such as perpetual futures, and the proposed framework would allow them to further offer spot trading. Some new entrants hope to obtain licensing through a single federal regulator rather than separately meeting regulatory requirements in each state.

After the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate in September, the CFTC and SEC began using existing statutory authority to advance digital asset regulation. On October 5, the CFTC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on a framework for retail crypto commodity trading. Selig stated that current law allows the CFTC to register platforms that offer margin, leverage, or financing-based commodity trading, and the relevant framework remains at the proposed stage.

Speaking about prediction markets, Selig reiterated that the CFTC believes it has exclusive regulatory authority over event contracts. In response to enforcement actions by some states treating prediction markets as unlicensed gambling, he stated that, if necessary, the CFTC will take the jurisdictional dispute to the U.S. Supreme Court.