The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on the 17th (local time) that it would ease regulatory burdens, allowing passive software providers that meet certain conditions to support futures and derivatives trading without registering as introducing brokers (IBs). The CFTC's Market Participants Division (MPD) stated that it would not recommend enforcement actions against firms providing software that connects users with registered Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs), Introducing Brokers (IBs), and exchanges, solely for not being registered as an IB or an associated person (AP) of an IB. However, software providers that exercise discretion in trading, such as directly intervening in individual orders or providing buy/sell signals, will be excluded from the registration exemption. This measure expands a regulatory relief previously applied to the self-custody cryptocurrency wallet provider Phantom in March, to similar software providers in general. Regarding this, Eleanor Terrett, host of the U.S. podcast 'Crypto in America,' explained that 'the CFTC is providing regulatory clarity for the crypto market.'
