The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed two related rules on Monday to govern crypto trading that involves leverage, margin or financing, creating a new category of exchange registration that would bring such transactions under federal derivatives oversight.

The proposals — an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (Regulation CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (Regulation CAM) — would establish platforms known as crypto asset markets (CAMs), a narrower form of the CFTC's existing designated contract market (DCM) registration. The agency described the dual-track approach, one rule covering transactions and the other governing the firms hosting them, as a "comprehensive regulatory framework."

"Today, the CFTC is doing its part to deliver clear rules of the road for crypto asset markets with its advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (Regulation CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (Regulation CAM)," CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said in remarks prepared for delivery at Fordham Law's annual Blockchain Regulatory Symposium. "These rules would codify a pathway for crypto asset exchanges to operate under uniform national oversight by the CFTC pursuant to the same statutory authorities that the prior administration instead utilized to regulate by enforcement."

What does the framework actually cover?

Crypto activity tied to leverage, margin or financing would fall under the CFTC's jurisdiction under the proposed rules. A trader using borrowed funds to amplify positions would be captured by the new oversight.

The rules are anchored in the Commodity Exchange Act's retail-trading provisions, established under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Key operational requirements include:

• A prohibition on listing products vulnerable to manipulation
• "Proof-of-reserves" demands for exchanges holding customer assets in omnibus accounts
• Futures commission merchants (FCMs) must act as intermediaries for Regulation CTX activity, ensuring Bank Secrecy Act anti-money-laundering safeguards
• An "actual delivery" exemption for transactions involving real exchange of assets within 28 days

The CAM status is designed as an optional registration, akin to tailored charters in the regulated banking sector. Firms pursuing futures, swaps and options will still need full DCM registration. Major platforms already holding DCM status include Coinbase, Crypto.com, Bitnomial and the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket.

Where does the spot-market gap remain?

The framework cannot reach direct spot trading — the buying and selling of crypto in its original form at current market prices without leverage or margin. That covers the largest swath of tokens, including bitcoin and Ethereum's ether, with one exception: the CFTC retains authority to police fraud and manipulation in those markets.

The proposals also cannot displace state money-transmission regulations as the governing rules for direct trading. CFTC officials said they do not yet know the scale of the remaining spot market and will learn more during the 60-day public comment period the proposals open. They suggested consumers may prefer to transact in the federally regulated space.

Closing the spot gap was the central aim of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which stalled in the U.S. Senate last month. Since that legislative setback, both the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission have advanced crypto policies to compensate for the absence of a market-structure law.

How does this fit the broader regulatory picture?

The SEC has moved faster, proposing a rule late last week on how investment firms should maintain custody of crypto assets and implementing an exemption that clears the way for securities tokenization. Monday's action brings the CFTC closer to parity, and officials signaled more to come, as Selig wants to cement earlier staff guidance on crypto matters into formal policy.

Both agencies currently operate with only Republican commissioners because President Donald Trump has not nominated candidates to fill the five-member commissions. The SEC is down to Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Selig has been the CFTC's sole commissioner for nearly a year, effectively taking unilateral actions akin to a single-director agency.

Earlier this year, the agencies jointly issued a token taxonomy that, for the first time, tried to define clearly which assets fall under the SEC's authority and which fall under the CFTC's.

Selig also said the agency is examining policies to protect software developers who build trading products but do not solicit orders or hold customer funds. "A person should not have to register as an introducing broker simply because that person shipped code," he said.

The 60-day comment window now opens as the industry's main channel to shape the final rules — and as the Senate's inaction on market-structure legislation leaves the spot-market question to a future Congress.