CFTC Issues Clarifying Advisory on FBOT Registration for Crypto Exchanges

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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a staff advisory to clarify the registration pathway for foreign boards of trade (FBOTs) seeking to provide access to US traders.

The guidance aims to resolve confusion over whether non-US crypto exchanges must register as an FBOT or a designated contract market (DCM).

Acting Chair Caroline Pham stated the advisory provides the “regulatory clarity needed to legally onshore trading activity” that was displaced by what she characterized as an “unprecedented regulation by enforcement approach” in previous years.

The move reaffirms the CFTC’s longstanding policy of allowing US traders access to deep, liquid global markets and establishes a potential path for American crypto firms that relocated offshore to return to US markets.