Overview
- The CFTC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Oct. 5 launching Regulation CTX and Regulation CAM and opened a 60-day public comment period to gather input before drafting formal rules.
- The proposals target retail crypto transactions that use leverage, margin, or financing and rely on Section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act to bring those trades under CFTC authority.
- Regulation CAM would let exchanges opt into a new federally supervised 'crypto asset market' registration that would require market‑surveillance, anti‑manipulation controls, proof‑of‑reserves, and routing customer trades through registered futures commission merchants.
- Simple, fully paid spot trades are not swept into the new registration and will remain largely governed by state money‑transmitter regimes, though the CFTC says it retains fraud and market‑manipulation enforcement powers in spot markets.
- Key technical questions — including leverage limits, the definition of 'actual delivery', which assets count for proof‑of‑reserves, and token‑listing safeguards — are unresolved and will be shaped by public comments, leaving the final rules open to legal challenge and industry debate.