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Regulators in Washington are beginning to sound different when they talk about crypto.
What was once framed as a risk to be contained is increasingly being described as infrastructure to be built.
The language has shifted from enforcement and uncertainty to coordination and clarity, a shift that aligns with President Donald Trump’s push to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world.”
As markets experiment with tokenization, on-chain settlement and digital collateral, regulators are being forced to answer how these systems actually plug into existing financial rails.
The latest guidance out of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suggests those answers are starting to take shape.
Crypto becomes the 'new frontier of finance'
The shift in posture has been building for months.
CFTC Chairman Mike Selig has increasingly framed crypto not as a side market, but as a foundational layer for future finance.
In remarks on March 17, he said:
That framing marks a clear departure from earlier regulatory skepticism. Instead of treating blockchain as an edge case, the agency is positioning it as core infrastructure while acknowledging that systems will exist “along a spectrum of decentralisation.”
Selig also emphasized that clarity is overdue, adding that
How Bitcoin and stablecoins can be used as collateral
On March 20, the CFTC staff released new FAQs outlining how crypto assets can be used in derivatives markets.
At the center of the update is a key operational point.
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) can now treat certain crypto assets, including Bitcoin and payment stablecoins, as margin collateral under specific conditions.
It means firms can now use crypto as a kind of deposit or safety buffer when making trades.
The CFTC said it “would not recommend” enforcement action if firms count the value of these assets toward margin requirements, as long as they apply proper risk discounts, known as haircuts.
The guidance also allows these crypto assets to help cover customer account shortfalls, marking a step toward bringing digital assets into traditional financial systems. So if a trader loses money, crypto can now help cover that gap.
But the rules come with clear limits.
Only payment stablecoins can be used by firms as their own collateral in customer accounts. Other crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ether are excluded from that use, and crypto still cannot be used as collateral for certain trades.
So not all crypto can be used freely; some uses are still restricted.
There are also strict safeguards, including reporting requirements, capital rules and limits on which assets can be used during an initial rollout period.
In effect, the CFTC is allowing crypto into the system, but very carefully and step by step.
SEC and CFTC move toward unified crypto rulebook
The guidance also follows U.S. regulators' attempt to fix a long-standing problem: fragmentation.
For years, the divide between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC created uncertainty over which rules applied to crypto markets.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins recently acknowledged that confusion, noting that the relationship between the agencies often left firms navigating “two agencies, two regulatory regimes” and overlapping requirements.
That dynamic is now shifting.
On March 11, the SEC and CFTC announced a formal Memorandum of Understanding aimed at coordinating oversight, aligning definitions and reducing duplicative regulation.
Atkins said the agreement would “serve as a roadmap for a new era of harmonization,” while Selig added that working together would “eliminate duplicative, burdensome rules and close gaps in regulation.”
The joint initiative explicitly includes work on “modernizing clearing, margin, and collateral frameworks,” placing the CFTC’s latest crypto collateral guidance within a much larger regulatory realignment.
This article has been published in thestreet.com via Yahoo News.
Top U.S. regulator reveals surprising new details on crypto collateral
Regulators in Washington are beginning to sound different when they talk about crypto. What was once framed as a risk to be contained is increasingly being described as infrastructure to be built. The language has shifted from enforcement and uncertainty to coordination and clarity, a shift ...
finance.yahoo.com
