CoinucationCFTC
The CFTC is the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates crypto derivatives and treats Bitcoin and Ether as commodities.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees futures, options, and swaps markets in the United States. It has classified Bitcoin as a commodity since 2015 and has said the same of Ether. That gives the CFTC authority over crypto derivatives such as the Bitcoin futures traded on the CME, and over fraud and manipulation in the underlying spot markets.
The CFTC has brought major cases, including a 2023 action against Binance and its founder for operating an unregistered derivatives exchange. It also oversees prediction markets such as Kalshi and the regulatory treatment of Polymarket. Compared with the SEC, the CFTC is generally seen as having a lighter registration regime, which is why much of the industry has favored giving it the lead role over spot crypto markets.
Several bills in Congress have proposed assigning most crypto spot market oversight to the CFTC while leaving securities-like tokens to the SEC. The agencies also coordinate: the CFTC regulates Bitcoin futures while the SEC approved the ETFs that hold spot Bitcoin.