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World desk4 min

Why Better Markets Calls the CFTC the “Wrong Agency” to Regulate Retail Crypto

Better Markets says the CFTC lacks the SEC’s investor-protection mandate. The CFTC’s October 2026 crypto action is an ANPRM, not a final rule.
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Better Markets calls the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the “wrong agency” because it says the agency lacks the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investor-protection mandate and would provide weaker safeguards for retail crypto customers. The dispute follows a CFTC announcement on October 5, 2026: the agency opened a rulemaking process for certain retail crypto transactions, but it has not adopted a final rule.

What the CFTC announced

On October 5, 2026, the CFTC published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), inviting public comment on a possible framework for retail commodity transactions involving crypto assets under Section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act. The agency is also considering a possible subcategory of designated contract market registration called a “crypto asset market.” The CFTC’s announcement describes a 60-day comment period from publication in the Federal Register, but does not establish that publication date or a calendar deadline.

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An ANPRM starts a process of gathering information and considering possible rules; it is not a final rule. The announcement does not mean that every crypto asset or exchange must register with the CFTC.

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Why Better Markets objects

Benjamin Schiffrin, Better Markets’ Director of Securities Policy, argued on October 5 that the CFTC is poorly suited to oversee retail crypto transactions because, in the group’s view, its rules lack protections available when investors trade securities under the SEC. Schiffrin said: “Because the CFTC’s rules lack the protections that apply when investors trade securities regulated by the SEC, the CFTC is the wrong agency to regulate transactions involving crypto assets by retail customers.”

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Better Markets also challenges the CFTC’s statutory basis for the initiative. Schiffrin argued that the provision the agency invoked addressed fraud in precious-metals markets, rather than establishing authority for the approach the CFTC is considering for crypto. That is Better Markets’ interpretation, not a court ruling or settled legal conclusion. The group’s response is available in its October 5 statement.

Protections at issue

Better Markets’ concern is that a CFTC framework would not simply reproduce the securities protections retail investors may associate with trading stocks. In a July 2025 fact sheet about proposed legislation, the group cited best execution, fiduciary duties and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) protection as examples of safeguards it said crypto investors would lack under that bill. That document discusses proposed legislation, not the October 2026 ANPRM; it does not establish which protections would or would not appear in any final CFTC rules. Read the July 2025 fact sheet.

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What the CFTC says it is trying to do

CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig says the agency is considering rules for registered exchanges offering certain crypto assets. He argues that retail transactions involving margin, leverage or financing fall within the CFTC’s jurisdiction, and describes the contemplated framework as an optional federal route—not a requirement that all crypto assets trade on CFTC-registered platforms.

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Selig says advance rules could bring clearer standards and consumer safeguards than relying only on enforcement after misconduct. In making that case, he cited the FTX collapse and asserted that customer property at an FTX CFTC-registered subsidiary remained segregated and secure. That is the chairman’s account; it is not independent evidence that the proposed framework would prevent a similar failure. Selig’s October 5 statement says: “The American people deserve clarity, certainty, and consumer protections in the crypto asset markets and the agency is committed to delivering this by incorporating crypto asset transactions into its uniform national market regulatory framework.”

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Why the type of crypto transaction matters

The dispute is not simply a question of whether the SEC or CFTC regulates all crypto. The CFTC’s traditional remit centers on derivatives, while the October 2026 initiative concerns certain retail commodity transactions and, in particular, the agency’s asserted authority over transactions involving margin, leverage or financing. Ordinary spot trading is a distinct category, and an asset’s description as a commodity does not by itself establish comprehensive CFTC authority over every spot-market transaction.

That distinction appears in earlier agency statements. In August 2021, CFTC Commissioner Dawn D. Stump wrote: “The CFTC does not regulate commodities (regardless of whether or not they are securities); rather, it regulates derivatives—and this is true for digital assets just as for any other asset class.” Her statement is historical context, not a decision on the legal question raised by the 2026 ANPRM. Read Stump’s statement.

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In September 2025, SEC and CFTC staff said registered exchanges were not prohibited from facilitating trading in certain spot crypto commodity products and described interagency coordination. That statement concerns selected products; it does not establish broad CFTC oversight of every spot crypto transaction. Read the joint staff statement.

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What happens next

The CFTC is seeking comments on a potential framework. The eventual rules, if adopted, may differ from the ideas described in the ANPRM. The announcement reviewed here does not specify the Federal Register publication date needed to calculate the 60-day comment deadline, and the legal scope of the agency’s authority remains contested by Better Markets.

The practical questions are therefore still open: which transactions and platforms a final framework would cover, what safeguards it would require, and whether the CFTC’s statutory interpretation withstands legal scrutiny. The October 5 action begins that discussion; it does not settle those questions.

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