The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday launched a pilot program allowing certain digital assets – Bitcoin. ether and USD Coin (USDC) or other payment stablecoins – for use as collateral in US derivatives markets.
The program, announced by Acting President Caroline Pham, is part of a broader initiative to give market participants clear rules for using tokenized collateral, including tokenized versions of real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries.
“Today, I am launching a U.S. digital asset pilot program for tokenized collateral, including bitcoin and ether, in our derivatives markets, which establishes clear guardrails to protect customer assets and provides enhanced CFTC monitoring and reporting,” Pham said in a statement.
The CFTC had already started working to allow stablecoins to be used as collateral for certain products earlier this year.
At this time, the program only applies to futures commission merchants (FCMs) who meet certain criteria. These companies can accept BTC, ETH, and payment stablecoins like USDC as margin collateral for futures and swaps, but must comply with strict reporting and custody requirements. For the first three months, they must provide weekly information on digital asset holdings and alert the CFTC of any problems.
In practice, this could mean a registered company accepting bitcoin as collateral for a commodity-linked leveraged swap, while the CFTC monitors operational risks and custody arrangements behind the scenes.
The agency also issued a no-action letter giving FCMs limited permission to hold certain digital assets in separate client accounts, provided they manage risks carefully. Importantly, the CFTC withdrew old guidance from 2020 that effectively blocked the use of crypto as collateral in many cases. This notice is now considered outdated, especially after the passage of the GENIUS Act, which updated federal rules regarding digital assets.
Industry executives welcomed the move. “This major unlocking is precisely what the Administration and Congress intended to enable through the GENIUS Act,” Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, said in a statement shared by the CFTC.
The CFTC stressed that its rules remain technology-neutral, but said real-world token assets such as Treasuries must still meet standards for applicability, custody and valuation.
