CFTC Kicks Off New Crypto Sprint Initiative As US House Moves To Block CBDC

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a new phase of its “Crypto Sprint” initiative while lawmakers have slipped an anti-CBDC provision into a “must-pass” defense bill.

Acting CFTC Chair Caroline D. Pham said in a statement that the regulator will begin “stakeholder engagement” on all of the recommendations made in a 166-page report released by the President’s crypto working group, and will now take public input from crypto market participants.

“The Administration has made it clear that enabling immediate trading of digital assets at the Federal level is a top priority,” Pham said in the statement. “The public feedback will assist the CFTC in carefully considering relevant issues for leveraged, margined or financed retail trading on a CFTC-registered exchange as we implement the President’s directive,” she added. 

CFTC To Help Deliver Trump’s Promise To “Win On Crypto”

“The Trump Administration has ushered in a new dawn for crypto, and it’s up to market participants to seize this opportunity to be a part of the Golden Age of innovation,” Pham said.

“I am beginning stakeholder engagement on all other report recommendations for the CFTC with the full support of the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets to operationalize President Trump’s promise to win on crypto.”. 

Earlier this month, the CFTC launched the first part of its “Crypto Sprint” initiative, which explored how the trading of spot crypto asset contracts could be enabled on CFTC-regulated futures exchanges. It came about a week after the White House released the report with recommendations about how digital assets could be regulated in the US.

President’s Working Group Made 18 Recommendations To The CFTC

The President’s crypto working group made a total of 18 recommendations to the CFTC. Two of these recommendations are concerned directly with the commodities regulator. 

The first direct guidance requested the CFTC to provide clear guidance on how cryptos could possibly be considered as commodities, which crypto-related activities entities regulated by the CFTC can engage in, and how decentralized finance (DeFi) firms can comply with registration requirements. 

The report then also asked the CFTC to consider how rules can be amended to accommodate blockchain-based derivatives. 

The remaining 16 recommendations concerning the regulator involved other agencies such as the US Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The SEC has also started acting on the White House’s crypto policy recommendations. Last month, it launched its own “Project Crypto” initiative, which SEC Chair Paul Atkins said would modernize rules and regulations around securities to “enable America’s financial markets to move on-chain.”

US House Amends Defense Policy Bill To Ban CBDC

While the CFTC and other agencies move toward implementing the changes from the White House’s report, the US House has added a provision to the country’s defense policy for the 2026 fiscal year that bans the Federal Reserve (Fed) from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The House’s version of a bill implementing the National Defense Authorization Act was shared by the House Rule Committee on Thursday, and includes sweeping language that bans any studies around or the creation of a digital currency by the Fed. 

It does, however, allow the continued exploration of stablecoins and does not prohibit “any dollar-denominated currency that is open, permissionless, and private.”

That’s after the House passed the Republican-backed Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act in July with a slim vote of 219-210.

House Anti-CBDC bill vote (Source: US House)

Usually, bills related to military spending are “must-pass” because they are concerned with how the US funds its defense budget. With this being the case, lawmakers often slip non-defense-related provisions in the bill because they have a much higher chance of becoming law this way. 

Since the standalone Anti-CBDC law now faces an uncertain future in the US Senate, lawmakers have attached the law to the defense budget.

House Republicans have been trying to ban CBDCs for a while now, and attempted to pass a version of the CBDC-banning bill in the last Congressional session. Introduced by Representative Tom Emmer in early 2023, this bill failed to advance and died at the last Congress.