The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants, Market Oversight, and Clearing and Risk divisions updated their crypto-related frequently asked questions on September 24, 2026, addressing tokenized customer-fund investments and the use of blockchain systems for regulatory recordkeeping. The update applies existing CFTC requirements to those technologies rather than creating a broad new authorization for crypto assets or on-chain operations.
In its announcement, the agency said the revised guidance covers questions involving crypto assets and blockchain technologies. For futures commission merchants, derivatives clearing organizations and firms subject to the relevant recordkeeping rules, the practical issue is whether a tokenized instrument or distributed-ledger system can meet rules that were written without prescribing a particular technology.
The answer set out by CFTC staff is conditional. Tokenization does not alter the underlying limits on permissible customer-fund investments, while records held on-chain must remain authentic, reliable, accessible and producible for the regulator.
Tokenized forms of Regulation 1.25 investments
The updated FAQ says futures commission merchants and derivatives clearing organizations may invest customer funds in tokenized forms of investments already permitted under CFTC Regulation 1.25, provided the tokenized form meets the regulation’s requirements, according to a Lowenstein Sandler summary of the guidance. It treats tokenization as a form of an already eligible investment, not a separate category that expands the permitted asset universe.
Blockchain records without an off-chain duplicate
The divisions also addressed whether required books, records and swap data can reside on blockchain or distributed-ledger systems. Staff said CFTC Regulations 1.31 and 45.2 are technology-neutral, meaning those materials may be maintained through blockchain or distributed-ledger technology if the applicable standards for authenticity, reliability, access and production are met.
That position does not require a firm to keep a parallel off-chain copy solely because its records are held on a blockchain. As reported by Unchained, the FAQ says firms using blockchain for CFTC recordkeeping do not have to maintain an off-chain duplicate.
The distinction matters because it recognizes an on-chain recordkeeping architecture without treating the ledger’s existence as sufficient compliance on its own. A system still has to enable the preservation and production of the required information under the CFTC’s rules. In other words, the guidance addresses where records may be maintained, but leaves the regulatory tests for those records in place.
Outage readiness remains the operating constraint
Network outages, block-explorer outages and emergencies are the test case for blockchain-based recordkeeping under the CFTC FAQ. Firms must retain and produce required records through those disruptions, even if the records are maintained on a blockchain.
The FAQ does not require firms to keep an off-chain copy. It does, however, leave the underlying delivery obligation in place when ordinary network conditions or access tools are unavailable.
That makes resilience part of the compliance question for an on-chain-only arrangement: recording information on a distributed ledger is not, by itself, enough if the firm cannot continue to retain and produce the required material.
How the September update builds on the March crypto FAQ
The September revisions build on the CFTC’s original crypto FAQ, issued March 20, 2026. That earlier FAQ was connected to Staff Letter 25-39, concerning tokenized collateral, and Staff Letter 26-05, concerning digital assets accepted as margin collateral, according to the CFTC’s March announcement.
The new material extends that line of staff guidance to two related compliance questions: whether customer funds may be invested in tokenized versions of investments already allowed under Regulation 1.25, and whether required records can be maintained on blockchain infrastructure. In both cases, the updated FAQ retains the underlying regulatory requirements as the governing standard.
The CFTC’s September action therefore provides a clearer application of existing customer-fund and recordkeeping rules to tokenized instruments and distributed-ledger systems. Its operative conditions remain eligibility under Regulation 1.25 for customer-fund investments, and authenticity, reliability, access, production and disruption readiness for records kept on-chain.
