CFTC Lets Derivatives Firms Put Customer Funds Into Tokenized Assets and Blockchain Records

Futures brokers and clearinghouses can now put customer money into tokenized Treasuries and similar assets without fear of a staff objection. On 24 September, the CFTC updated its staff FAQs to say regulated firms may invest customer funds in tokenized forms of assets they are already allowed to hold.

The condition is that the token must carry the same legal and economic rights as the underlying asset, or rights that are functionally equivalent, and the firm must hold it properly. A tokenized Treasury bill is fine if it really is a Treasury bill on a new rail.

The same update covers the back office. Staff said they would not object to firms keeping required books on a blockchain or other distributed ledger under Regulation 1.31, as long as the records stay reliable, accessible and producible to regulators.

The guidance came jointly from the Market Participants, Market Oversight, and Clearing and Risk divisions, and it builds on crypto FAQs the agency published in March. Chair Michael Selig framed it as part of a push to give the industry regulatory clarity, Blockonomi reported.

The limits matter as much as the permission. The list of permitted investments under Regulation 1.25 has not changed, so nothing new becomes eligible just because it is on a chain. Firms also cannot use the crypto guidance as a shortcut to park customer funds directly in payment stablecoins.

Staff FAQs are not a Commission rule either. They create no enforceable rights and do not stop the CFTC from bringing enforcement cases later. The update is also separate from Staff Letter 26-25, which gave relief to crypto software providers acting as brokers.

The timing is pointed. The update landed days after the Senate failed to reach cloture on the Clarity Act, the market structure bill that would have given the CFTC formal authority over much of crypto. With that law likely slipping, the agency is doing what it can through staff guidance.

That keeps tokenization moving inside existing rules, alongside the SEC's own work on an innovation exemption for tokenized stocks. It is not a substitute for legislation, and a future Commission could read the same FAQs differently.