News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
The federal regulator of US derivatives markets, created by statute in 1974, which on 4 December 2025 used its existing authority to permit listed spot cryptocurrency products to trade on registered futures exchanges for the first time.
The federal regulator of US derivatives markets, created by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974 and operational from April 1975, with authority over designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, clearing organisations and leveraged retail commodity transactions. On 4 December 2025 it used that existing authority to permit listed spot cryptocurrency products to trade on registered futures exchanges for the first time, on the reasoning that leveraged retail commodity trading may lawfully occur only on a futures exchange. Its advance notice of proposed rulemaking of 12 March 2026, with comments closing 30 April 2026, asks how contract-market core principles, the public-interest test and margin should apply to event contracts, listings of which it counted rising from about five a year between 2006 and 2020 to roughly 1,600 in 2025.
Developments in which Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a named party, newest first.
Cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 failed 49 to 50 on Monday afternoon. The threshold was 60, because since 1975 cloture has needed three-fifths of all senators.
The complaints allege the pair learned which tokens Robinhood would list from a private Slack channel and bought perpetual futures on Hyperliquid before each announcement, making more than $50,000 each.
Senate Republicans published 635 pages on Sunday night, two days before a procedural vote that needs sixty. Four changes from the 10 September version have not been read anywhere. The ethics ban no longer expires in 2029.
A 630 page substitute amendment published four days before a cloture vote would make anyone who controls a lending or trading protocol register with the CFTC and answer to the Bank Secrecy Act.
The largest market maker in the United States filed on the SEC and CFTC joint comment file, sixteen days after it closed, to say that binary options on the metrics public companies report are securities, that a venue should not choose its regulator…
A former Solicitor General, acting for Hyperliquid Policy Center, told the district court in Washington that CME cannot claim competitor injury from an order which enlarged the market rather than dividing it, and that an interest in burdening rivals…
The state's attorney general petitions for certiorari five days after the Ninth Circuit split from the Third, asking whether registering a market with the CFTC exempts what it lists from every state's gambling law.
Moving to dismiss the exchange's suit over Kalshi's bitcoin perpetuals, the Commission quotes CME's own earnings call and its own monthly volume files back at it, and argues that one board of trade has no standing to litigate how a rival's contract…
The Ninth Circuit holds that the Commodity Exchange Act likely does not preempt Nevada's gaming law, contradicting the Third Circuit and leaving the same contract lawful in one part of the country and not another.
The CFTC settles insider trading charges over event contracts on which phrases would appear in presidential speeches, and the trades were found by the exchange's own surveillance rather than by the regulator.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission closed its cases against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang with no restitution, no disgorgement and no civil penalty.
The Commission proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on 18 August without holding the open meeting it cancelled four days earlier.
Kalshi submitted two never-expiring futures for the Commission's approval on 18 August rather than certifying them itself: one on a 500-stock US index, one on copper.
The newest federally designated prediction market filed its fifth suit against a state attorney general in eleven days, and this one is in the state where a federal judge refused the CFTC the same relief on 28 July and said the exchanges were the…
A cancellation notice dated 13 August withdrew the open meeting called for 10 a.m. on the 14th, at which the Commission was to consider proposing a tailored offering regime for certain crypto assets. No new date was given.
The Commission published the agenda on 13 August for the first meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee, on 20 August.
A King County judge signed an order on 12 August requiring KalshiEX to stop offering event contracts on sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science and mentions in Washington, with geofencing by 2 September and $120,000 a…
A twelve-page advisory issued on 12 August tells designated contract markets what a market-maker or trading incentive programme may contain and how to file one.
The Commission found on 11 August that a state enforcement action and its motion for a restraining order are a major market disturbance, and directed KalshiEX to keep operating.
The flight tracking company discontinued its case on 11 August, the day after filing it and hours after a judge set a restraining order hearing for the 13th.
The flight tracking company filed in Manhattan on 10 August, alleging that Kalshi named it as the primary source agency for cancellation contracts, displayed its trademark on the market pages and settled wagers on data licensed for personal use only.
A Sunshine Act notice dated 10 August calls an open meeting for 10 a.m. on Friday 14 August, at which the Commission will consider whether to propose a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets.
Staff at the derivatives regulator wrote to every venue listing event contracts to say that displaying them in American plus-minus odds, rather than in cents, is likely to mislead customers about what they are buying and risks breaching the…
A federal judge in Detroit refused to stop Michigan enforcing its sports betting law against Coinbase, finding that sports event contracts are probably not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and that, even if they were, the Act does not displace…
The state's petition asks a New York court to shut an exchange the CFTC licenses, with remedies one report reckons could pass $36bn, and puts the sharpest question yet to the federal footing of event contracts.
The regulator has ordered the former congressman to give up his profits and pay a penalty for trading a Kalshi contract on whether he would attend the State of the Union, an outcome he alone controlled.
A principles-based rewrite of Parts 37, 38 and 39 would police affiliations between exchanges, clearers and trading firms—the integrated structure crypto platforms made standard in derivatives markets.
The exchange will pay doctoral researchers to study its own market category, with a Carnegie Mellon economist as scientific director and independence rules of its own design.
A preliminary injunction in the District of Minnesota halts Senate File 3432, finding the Commodity Exchange Act probably preempts a state law that criminalises prediction market platforms.
The league wants outright bans on contracts over officiating and player performance rather than case-by-case review, a 21-and-over floor, and prohibited-bettor lists—positions that put it at odds with both the Commission's draft and the leagues that…
The Division of Market Oversight says template filings that bundle many contract variations into a single certification fall short of what the rules require.
Trading, deposits and new positions ended at 04:00 UTC on 23 September, on the schedule HDR Global Trading set in July, and www.bitmex.com now serves a closure notice in place of the platform.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets, published in the Federal Register on 12 June 2026, setting out when event contracts on enumerated activities are contrary to the public interest.
The Senate Banking Committee released its version of the CLARITY Act on 11 May 2026 and advanced the crypto market structure bill out of committee that month. A further revision was reported in July 2026 as negotiators worked toward a bipartisan compromise.
Intercontinental Exchange announced an additional $600m investment in Polymarket on 27 March 2026, adding to its earlier stake in the prediction-market platform.
Cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 failed at 2:19 p.m. against a three-fifths requirement of 60 votes, so the chamber never took the bill up and no text was voted on. The Senate's roll call record gives four Republicans among the 50 nays, alongside 44 Democrats and two independents, with one Democrat not voting.
Complaints unsealed in Manhattan allege Hefu Chai and Huaisong Xiang learned of forthcoming Robinhood Crypto listings on a private Slack channel and bought perpetuals on Hyperliquid before each announcement, making more than $50,000 each. The pleading says the venue holds no CFTC approval for a futures market and geofences United States addresses.
Lummis, Boozman and Scott released a 635 page substitute for H.R. 3633, claiming 126 changes requested by Democrats. Read against the 10 September version, the ethics sunset of noon on 20 January 2029 is gone, the developer shield no longer reaches 18 U.S.C. 1960, and the Treasury circuit-breaker on stablecoin rewards must be triggered within 18 months of enactment.
Senator Cynthia Lummis published a 630 page substitute amendment to H.R. 3633 ahead of a Senate vote on 15 September. It requires rules for persons who control a non-decentralized finance trading protocol to register with the CFTC and to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, and preempts state securities and commodities law over protected developer activities.
Elizabeth Prelogar, Solicitor General from 2021 to 2025, filed for Hyperliquid Policy Center in Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. v. Selig, arguing that the CFTC order enlarged the market rather than dividing it, so competitor standing does not follow, and that CME's interest in reclassifying perpetuals as swaps is outside the zone of interests. Leave was granted the same day.
The market maker filed on the agencies' joint comment file on the swap and security-based swap definitions, saying binary options on issuers' reported metrics are securities, that a venue should not choose its regulator by its own characterisation of a product, and that equity-linked perpetuals should not be approved until the classification is settled.
New Jersey's attorney general and its gaming enforcement director filed a petition for certiorari on 2 September 2026 in Flaherty and Davenport v. KalshiEX, asking whether Dodd-Frank preempted states from regulating sports bets offered on CFTC-registered markets. The office calls it the first such petition, and it follows opposite rulings in the Third and Ninth Circuits.
The Commission and its chairman moved on 2 September 2026 to dismiss CME Group's challenge to the approval of Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual futures, arguing the exchange has no standing because it is free to list the same contract and has told investors its customers are not asking for one. Cross-motions for summary judgment are proposed for 20 November.
In KalshiEX, LLC v. Assad, No. 25-7516, decided 28 August 2026, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed dissolution of Kalshi's injunction against Nevada's gaming regulators, holding the Commodity Exchange Act likely does not preempt state gaming law as applied to its sports event contracts. Nelson wrote, Bade joined, Lee concurred. It contradicts an April Third Circuit decision, creating a split.
The CFTC announced on 28 August 2026 an order settling charges against Gabriel Perez for misappropriating nonpublic information from his White House employment to trade event contracts on words the President would use in speeches. He must disgorge $107,539.02 and pay a $65,000 penalty, discounted for cooperation, with a three-year trading ban. The release thanks KalshiEX for its assistance.
The Southern District of New York entered supplemental consent orders against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang on 18 August 2026, announced by the Commission on the 19th. No restitution, disgorgement or civil monetary penalty is imposed, in consideration of cooperation and an $11.02bn criminal forfeiture; the trading and registration bans run from the initial consent orders of 23 December 2022.
The Commission proposed a tailored offering regime for crypto assets on 18 August 2026, five days after cancelling the meeting called to consider it. Two registration exemptions, a safe harbour perfected by the issuer's own certification on a new Form TR, and a definition of qualified purchaser that would preempt state registration requirements. Comments close sixty days after publication.
Kalshi submitted perpetual futures on the MerQube US Large Cap Index and on copper for Commission review and approval under regulation 40.3(a) on 18 August 2026, rather than self-certifying them. The copper contract references the Pyth Network XCU/USD feed, and the filing tells the regulator that the network's staking and slashing safeguard is not currently operative.
Ludlow Exchange, trading as Novig, filed a 45 page complaint in the Western District of Wisconsin on 14 August 2026 seeking a declaration that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts the state's gambling statutes. It is its fifth suit against a state officer since 4 August, and it follows a federal court in the same state refusing the CFTC the same relief on 28 July.
A cancellation notice dated 13 August 2026 withdrew the open meeting called for 10 a.m. on 14 August, at which the Commission was to consider proposing a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. No reason and no new date were given. The meeting agenda of 10 August names the item Regulation Crypto Assets.
The agenda of 13 August 2026 sets three sessions for 20 August, on crypto regulation, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The prediction markets session lists the respective roles of federal and state authorities and recent state litigation among its potential topics. It names three officials, no members and no panellists.
CFTC Letter 26-23 of 12 August 2026 sets out what a designated contract market may put in a market-maker or trading incentive programme and how to certify it. Unlimited rebates, guaranteed profits, secret discount codes, chance-based prizes and selectively faster market data are named as concerns, and existing programmes are to be reviewed by 14 September.
A King County Superior Court judge signed an amended preliminary injunction on 12 August 2026 requiring KalshiEX to stop offering event contracts on sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science and mentions in Washington, with geofencing through GeoComply by 2 September and $120,000 a day thereafter. It holds the Commodity Exchange Act does not preempt state gambling law.
The Commission found on 11 August 2026 that New York's enforcement action and its motion for a temporary restraining order are a major market disturbance under section 8a(9) of the Commodity Exchange Act, and directed KalshiEX to continue performing its functions as an exchange under the Act's core principles. No court had ruled on the restraining order.
FlightAware filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice against all four Kalshi defendants on 11 August 2026, hours after Judge Arun Subramanian signed an order to show cause setting a temporary restraining order hearing for 13 August. No reason is given and no answer had been filed. Kalshi's self-certification still names FlightAware as the primary source agency.
FlightAware filed in the Southern District of New York on 10 August 2026, alleging that Kalshi named it as the primary source agency for flight cancellation contracts, displayed its registered mark on the market pages and settled positions using data licensed for personal use only. Six counts are pleaded and a temporary restraining order is sought.
A Sunshine Act notice dated 10 August 2026 called an open meeting for 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Friday 14 August, at which the Commission will consider whether to issue a release proposing new rules creating a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. The notice names no rule and no scope.
The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight and Market Participants Division wrote to regulated entities on 7 August 2026 to say that displaying event contracts in American plus-minus odds rather than in cents is likely to mislead participants about the nature of the transaction and risks breaching the prohibition on manipulative or deceptive devices. Receipt was to be confirmed by 31 August.
Judge Shalina D. Kumar of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan denied Coinbase Financial Markets a preliminary injunction on 6 August 2026, holding that sports event contracts are probably not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and that the Act preempts Michigan's gambling laws neither expressly nor by implication. The Gaming Control Board was dismissed on Eleventh Amendment grounds.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced an order on 31 July 2026 against the former US representative George Santos for manipulative trading of a Kalshi event contract on whether he would attend the February 2026 State of the Union address. Axios reports a civil fine of $17,500, the surrender of $17,569.98 in profits and a three-year trading ban; the reports differ on the ban's scope.
The CFTC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on 30 July 2026 seeking comment on amendments to Parts 37, 38 and 39 of its regulations and to Regulations 1.52 and 1.55, addressing conflicts of interest that arise where designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, derivatives clearing organisations and futures commission merchants are affiliated. Reporting describes restrictions on affiliated traders' access to non-public exchange data, a bar on preferential fee treatment, separation of personnel and technology, and a prohibition on proprietary trading arms operating on the same platform. Comments run for 60 days from Federal Register publication.
Judge Katherine Menendez of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota granted preliminary injunctions on 27 July 2026 against Senate File 3432, which would have criminalised operating a prediction market platform in the state from August. The court found the plaintiffs, Kalshi, Polymarket and the CFTC, likely to succeed on their claim that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts the statute. The injunction holds until the merits are decided.
The National Football League filed a comment letter on 27 July 2026 on the CFTC's proposed public interest determinations rule, saying the draft falls significantly short and asking the Commission to prohibit outright the categories it considers manipulable, including contracts on officiating, individual player performance and events knowable in advance, rather than review them case by case. It also asked for a minimum age of 21 and league-specific prohibited-bettor lists.
The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight issued an advisory on 24 July 2026 cautioning designated contract markets against template certifications that bundle many event contract variations into a single filing, saying such submissions limit its ability to judge whether the information required under Regulation 40.2 has been supplied, and setting out when closely related contracts may instead take class treatment.
HDR Global Trading said on 23 July 2026 that BitMEX would close at 04:00 UTC on 23 September, following a strategic review, and told users to withdraw funds before the deadline. The venue introduced the perpetual swap in May 2016, the contract design that went on to dominate crypto derivatives trading on centralised and onchain venues alike.
A divided panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction in KalshiEX LLC v. Flaherty, holding that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts New Jersey's gaming laws as applied to sports event contracts traded on a CFTC-designated contract market, on both field and conflict preemption grounds. Judge Roth dissented, arguing that the presumption against preemption applies with particular force to gambling and that the two regimes can be complied with simultaneously.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered Tether to pay a $41m civil penalty, finding that between 1 June 2016 and 25 February 2019 the company misrepresented that every USDT in circulation was backed by an equivalent amount of fiat currency. The order found that Tether held sufficient fiat reserves to back tokens outstanding on only 27.6% of days in a 26-month sample from 2016 to 2018, and did not disclose that reserves included unsecured receivables and non-fiat assets.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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