Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is an independent US federal agency, created under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974, that administers the Commodity Exchange Act to police derivatives markets: futures, options, and swaps built on everything from agricultural products to interest rates. Its mission is market integrity, not consumer product approval, so it does not license traders the way a bank regulator licenses lenders.

Crypto entered the CFTC's remit in 2015, when a federal court agreed with the agency that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies qualify as "commodities" under the Commodity Exchange Act. That precedent gave the CFTC clear authority over Bitcoin and Ether futures, options, and swaps, plus broad anti-fraud and anti-manipulation power over the underlying spot markets, even though it generally cannot register or directly supervise spot crypto exchanges the way the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversees stock exchanges. In March 2026, the CFTC and SEC jointly published an interpretive release naming sixteen major tokens, including Bitcoin and Ether, as digital commodities, an attempt to draw a clearer jurisdictional line pending permanent market-structure legislation from Congress.

The distinction from a security, often assessed under the Howey Test, matters because it decides which agency, and which rulebook, applies. In practice the CFTC has used this authority to pursue unregistered commodity pool operators and fraudulent crypto trading schemes, seeking restitution, penalties, and trading bans against offenders.