CFTC Chair Pushes a Voluntary Federal Registration Path for Crypto Exchanges While Congress Stalls — Comments Are Due 14 December; Canada Opens a 60-Day Stablecoin Consultation That Keeps the Yield Ban

While markets wait for the Fed, regulators moved on two fronts on Monday 26 October. In the United States, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig said the agency is advancing a voluntary federal registration route for crypto exchanges, because Congress has not passed a market-structure law (crypto.news and CryptoTimes, 26–27 October). In Canada, the government opened a 60-day consultation on draft stablecoin regulations that keep a ban on paying yield (CoinDesk, 26 October). Neither changes the rules for ordinary bitcoin holders today, but both set the terms of the next stage. Bitcoin traded near $79,500 at 07:04 UTC on Tuesday.

Informational only. This is not legal, tax or investment advice.

What the CFTC is doing

The framework is an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the earliest stage of the process, released on 5 October and published in the Federal Register on 13 October according to crypto.news. It proposes two possible rule sets: Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions (Regulation CTX) and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets (Regulation CAM), built on Section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act, which covers retail commodity transactions offered with leverage, margin or financing (Baker Botts; crypto.news). Steptoe, as cited by crypto.news, reads Regulation CAM as a subcategory of designated contract market, subject to the 23 core principles that apply to those venues.

The proposal is narrower than headlines suggest. It reaches crypto trading offered with leverage, margin or financing; spot-only activity on state-licensed platforms sits outside its core scope (crypto.news). The CFTC preliminarily treats an offer of leverage as covering transactions even when customers do not actually borrow, for example through onboarding paperwork or margin agreements, and there is an exception for “actual delivery” within 28 days, according to crypto.news’s earlier examination of the notice. Fenwick, as cited, says customer control of private keys is an element of the preliminary delivery interpretation. Proposed safeguards cover token listings, market surveillance, customer funds, conflicts of interest and system safeguards, with proof-of-reserves obligations for pooled customer assets also contemplated.

Video: a 7 October 2026 discussion of the CFTC proposal from an independent channel. Opinion, not our analysis.

Why “voluntary”?

The reason is the Senate. On 15 September, the Senate’s procedural vote to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act failed, short of the 60 votes needed. We have reported the tally as 49–50 against; CryptoTimes prints it the other way round, 50–49, but either way the bill fell well short. The bill remains on the Senate calendar and has not been killed (CryptoTimes). Selig said in an X post on 26 October that the CFTC is moving ahead while Congress has not acted, and acknowledged that the agency cannot require all crypto assets to trade on registered platforms without legislation (crypto.news). CryptoTimes quotes him as “very disappointed” that Congress did not send the bill to the president. Our own guide to following a crypto bill through Congress and CLARITY Act update track the legislative side.

The dates that matter

Note: the Baker Botts summary says comments are due 60 days after Federal Register publication; the 14 December date comes from crypto.news and CryptoTimes and is consistent with publication in mid-October. The notice is an advance notice only; no rule has been adopted.

The SEC track

The CFTC is not the only agency moving. The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets in August, with a one-time “startup” exemption for offerings of up to $5 million over four years and a “fundraising” exemption of up to $75 million in each 12-month period; both would require narrative disclosures, and the larger one would also require financial statements and continuing reporting (crypto.news; Baker Botts). Its comment period closed on 20 October. We covered the agencies’ earlier moves in CFTC chair: new rules to prevent another FTX and the CFTC’s instruction to write a crypto rulebook without Congress.

Canada: a stablecoin consultation with a yield ban

On 26 October, Canada’s government opened a 60-day consultation, closing on 23 December, on draft regulations under its Stablecoin Act, which passed earlier this year; the regulations are required to bring the Act into force (CoinDesk). The draft would bar issuers from paying interest on holdings, including through third parties, while still allowing rewards tied to transactions. Non-bank issuers would hold reserves equal to the tokens in circulation at qualified Canadian institutions such as banks, credit unions and trust companies. Customers would be able to convert stablecoins to regular currency within three business days, with redemption fees capped at 1%, and the framework is expected to take effect toward the end of 2027. The Canadian Bankers Association has said it firmly supports the Act’s explicit prohibition on yield, direct and indirect. The same yield question was central to the US debate; see our explainer on GENIUS Act implementation.

Chart: bitcoin over one month, TradingView widget (live data).

What it means for bitcoin holders

• Spot bitcoin on a state-licensed platform: not the core target of the CFTC notice. The proposal is about leveraged, margined or financed retail trading.
• Leveraged crypto products: could face a federal registration route if exchanges opt in; the open questions are how the delivery exception works and whether federal rules displace state requirements (the CFTC argues preliminarily that they do; Steptoe and Fenwick, as cited, say that is unresolved).
• Timing: an advance notice, a comment period to 14 December and then a proposed rule, so no change to your account terms this year.
• Congress: nothing in the CFTC path replaces the legislation; Selig himself said the agency cannot compel registration.

For the market, the week is dominated by the Fed on Wednesday 28 October and PCE on Thursday; regulation is a slower-moving driver. Bitcoin sits about 37% below its October 2025 peak of $126,296 (our one-year retrospective), and the regulatory calendar above is one of the longer-dated items on the list.

Related coverage today: Anthropic files for a Nasdaq IPO and crypto perps priced it first; and from yesterday, South Korea backs a fourth delay to its crypto tax.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are volatile and you can lose some or all of the money you put in. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin, any exchange-traded fund, any listed security or any other asset, and the technical levels, probabilities and scenarios discussed are descriptions of published data, not forecasts. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.