Regulatory update: CFTC clears leveraged spot crypto trading, SEC staff grants Fuse no-action relief, Senate confirms new agency heads

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Editor’s note: Our Regulatory Updates series highlights the latest regulatory, legal, and policy happenings relevant to the crypto industry, curated by the a16z crypto regulatory team.

Regulatory Update: November 24 – December 19, 2025

tl;dr

  • The CFTC announced that leveraged spot cryptocurrency products will begin trading for the first time in U.S. federally regulated markets on CFTC-registered futures exchanges.
  • The Division of Corporation Finance issued a no-action letter to Fuse Crypto Limited, stating that it would not recommend enforcement action if Fuse offers and sells “Tokens” in the manner and under the circumstances described in its letter without registration under Section 5 of the Securities Act or as a class of equity securities under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act.
  • The Senate confirmed Travis Hill and Michael Selig as chairs of the FDIC and CFTC, respectively.

🌽 Commodity Futures Trading Commission

  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the CFTC announced that leveraged spot cryptocurrency products will begin trading for the first time in U.S. federally regulated markets on CFTC-registered futures exchanges.
  • The CFTC announced “the launch of a digital assets pilot program for certain digital assets, including BTC, ETH, and USDC, to be used as collateral in derivatives markets; guidance on tokenized collateral; and withdrawal of outdated requirements given the enactment of the GENIUS Act.”
  • The CFTC announced that the agency is withdrawing “outdated guidance related to actual delivery of ‘virtual currencies,’ given the substantial developments in crypto asset markets.”

🦅 Congress

  • House Representatives Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Max Miller (R-Ohio) released a discussion draft of the Digital Asset Protection, Accountability, Regulation, Innovation, Taxation, and Yields (PARITY) Act, which would address various digital asset tax issues.
  • Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) introduced the Strengthening Agency Frameworks for Enforcement of Cryptocurrency (SAFE Crypto) Act, which would create a federal task force to identify, track, and stop crypto fraud.
  • In an interview with Punchbowl, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said it was critical to get DeFi policy right within market structure legislation.
  • House Representative Mike Carey (R-Ohio) and others sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking him to review and update guidance on the taxation of staking rewards before the 2026 tax year begins.
  • Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pamela Bondi requesting information about whether the Treasury and the DOJ are “investigating significant national security risks posed by decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges.”
  • House Committee on Financial Services Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) released a staff report titled “Operation Choke Point 2.0: Biden’s Debanking of Digital Assets.”
  • Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) released a staff report titled “Trump, Crypto, and A New Age of Corruption.”

⚖ Department of Justice

  • Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison for committing wire fraud and conspiring to commit securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud in connection with his involvement in Terraform Labs and the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies.
  • The DOJ announced the seizure of a web domain, which was used to target and defraud Americans through cryptocurrency investment fraud scams. The domain was used by those located at the Tai Chang scam compound in Burma.
  • A California resident pleaded guilty in connection with his role in a multi-state conspiracy that used social engineering to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from victims throughout the United States.
  • A Los Angeles-based director and writer was convicted for his role in a fraudulent scheme to steal $11 million from a subscription video on-demand streaming service and then using a portion of the funds to speculate on crypto.
  • A senior promoter of a large-scale cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme known as “IcomTech” was sentenced to 71 months in prison for his role in the scheme and for reentering the United States illegally after having been deported.
  • Federal agents seized nearly $8.5 million worth of Tether, which had been traced to a cryptocurrency address linked to money stolen from victims of cryptocurrency investment scams.

💵 Department of the Treasury

  • FinCEN assessed a $3.5 million penalty against Paxful, Inc. and Paxful USA, Inc. for “willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.” Paxful also pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Travel Act and other federal criminal charges.
  • FinCEN issued a Financial Trend Analysis on ransomware incidents in Bank Secrecy Act data between 2022 and 2024.

💵 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

  • The FDIC Board of Directors approved a notice of proposed rulemaking that would implement the application provisions under the GENIUS Act.

💰 Federal Reserve

  • The Federal Reserve withdrew a 2023 policy statement and issued a new policy statement regarding the treatment of certain Board-supervised banks that facilitates responsible innovation.
  • Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman testified that the Federal Reserve needs “to provide clarity in treatment on digital assets to ensure that the banking system is well placed to support digital asset activities.”

🛒 Federal Trade Commission

  • The FTC voted to accept a proposed complaint and order for public comment relating to Illusory Systems “for failing to implement adequate data security measures.”

🏦 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

  • The OCC published an interpretive letter confirming that a national bank may engage in riskless principal crypto-asset transactions as part of the business of banking.
  • The OCC announced its conditional approval of five national trust bank charter applications.
  • Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould discussed the agency’s activities to reinvigorate the chartering of new banks following the 2008 financial crisis in remarks at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit.

📈 Securities and Exchange Commission

  • As mentioned in “tl;dr,” the Division of Corporation Finance issued a no-action letter to Fuse Crypto Limited, stating that it would not recommend enforcement action if Fuse offers and sells “Tokens” in the manner and under the circumstances described in its letter without registration under Section 5 of the Securities Act or as a class of equity securities under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act.
  • The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a no-action letter to The Depository Trust Company, stating that it would not recommend enforcement action against DTC under certain provisions of the Securities Exchange Act for launching the pilot version of a securities tokenization program. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce released a statement in connection with the no-action letter. 
  • The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets issued a staff statement on the custody of crypto asset securities by broker-dealers, as well as responses to FAQs relating to crypto asset activities and distributed ledger technology.
  • Commissioner Hester M. Peirce released a request for information regarding national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems trading crypto assets.
  • The SEC’s Crypto Task Force held a roundtable on financial surveillance and privacy. SEC Chair Paul S. Atkins and Commissioners Mark T. Uyeda and Hester M. Peirce gave remarks.
  • The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance issued an Investor Bulletin on “Crypto Asset Custody Basics for Retail Investors.”
  • The SEC charged the founder and CEO of VBit Technologies Corp. with fraudulently raising more than $95.6 million from thousands of investors and misappropriating investor funds in connection with his bitcoin mining business.
  • The SEC charged three purported crypto asset trading platforms and four investment clubs alleging that they defrauded retail investors out of more than $14 million in an “investment confidence scam.”
  • The SEC filed proposed final consent judgments as to Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, Zixiao (Gary) Wang, the former CTO of FTX, and Nishad Singh, the former Co-Lead Engineer of FTX.
  • SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said that he is “looking forward to having an innovation exemption” for crypto, and he expects the agency to release it in the next “month or so.”
  • Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw discussed crypto and other issues at the Brookings Institution.

State

🗽 New York

  • The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office indicted a Brooklyn man in connection with a phishing and social engineering scheme that stole nearly $16 million from about 100 users of Coinbase.
  • MoonPay announced that the NYDFS has authorized MoonPay Trust Company, LLC, a New York Limited Purpose Trust Company, to begin providing services to customers.

International

💰 Bank for International Settlements

  • The BIS published a working paper on tokenization and real estate. The BIS also published a bulletin on the rise of tokenized money market funds.

🇪🇺 European Union

  • ESMA welcomed the European Commission’s legislative proposal on market integration and supervision, which proposes transferring direct supervision of certain significant cross-border infrastructures and crypto-asset service providers to the EU level.
  • ESMA released a statement on “MiCA Transitional Measures.”
  • Europol dismantled crypto mixing service “Cryptomixer” in cooperation with law enforcement authorities from Germany and Switzerland. Europol also dismantled a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering network that had laundered more than €700 million.
  • The ECB published a report on risks associated with stablecoins.
  • Italy’s Consob issued an announcement urging investors and operators to pay close attention to the December 30 deadline set for the transition period for compliance with the new MiCA regulations.
  • European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union Maria Luís Albuquerque spoke at the Blockchain for Europe Annual Summit.
  • Securitize received authorization from Spain’s National Securities Market Commission to operate a regulated trading and settlement system under the EU’s DLT Pilot Regime.
  • Crypto exchange KuCoin announced that its EU arm has obtained a Markets in Crypto-Assets license in Austria.

💵 International Monetary Fund

  • The IMF published a paper on stablecoins that discusses market developments, use cases, potential benefits, associated risks, and the evolving international regulatory landscape.

🌐 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

  • The OECD released updated FAQs regarding the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework.

🇪🇸 Spain

  • The Spanish National Police announced that it had dismantled an organization allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of a man to steal his crypto assets.

🇨🇭 Switzerland

  • Switzerland is delaying the automatic exchange of information on crypto accounts with foreign tax authorities under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework until at least 2027.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates

  • Ripple announced that its USD-backed stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) has been recognized as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token by Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority.
  • Circle announced that it secured a Financial Services Permission license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

  • HM Treasury published the final draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2025 and an accompanying draft explanatory memorandum.
  • HMRC published a summary of responses it received to its consultation on the taxation of DeFi involving the lending and staking of cryptoassets.
  • HMRC published a policy paper on “Domestic reporting of UK resident cryptoasset users under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework.”
  • The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, which recognizes that digital assets may constitute a category of personal property, received Royal Assent.

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