The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has opened a regulatory avenue for offshore cryptocurrency exchanges to legally serve US residents by registering as a Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT).
The measure, announced this week by the authority, revives a tool that has existed since the 1990s and adapts it, according to sources within the agency, to the current format of digital markets. Among the references cited by the CFTC are well-known exchanges in the sector that until now have operated mainly from foreign jurisdictions.
With this approach, the CFTC aims to offer an alternative to the situation that has developed in recent years: following the absence of clear rules between 2021 and 2024, many crypto companies chose to move operations outside the US, and much of the global volume ended up concentrated on offshore exchanges.
The agency has indicated that the FBOT route is designed for all asset classes and that US citizens will be able to use it to operate under federal oversight when exchanges meet registration requirements.
Regulatory clarity and market reception
The CFTC’s interim leadership has encouraged firms and operators to use this framework as a mechanism to operate with legal certainty within the US, while inviting public comment to refine the rules.
Among the names that appear to be affected by the change are Binance, Bybit, and OKX, exchanges that have historically conducted much of their activity outside the country.
In practice, formal access to US residents will depend on these entities completing the process and meeting the conditions required by the CFTC.
The announcement comes amid the so-called “crypto sprint,” a regulatory push to accelerate the development of specific rules for digital assets. It also fits with the public statements of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed interest in attracting companies in the sector to operate from the country.
Agency leadership and decision-making
Following the recent resignation of Commissioner Kristin Johnson, the CFTC was left with a very small membership, a circumstance that could facilitate far-reaching decisions made from the main office.
This fact has fueled conversations about the possibility of more direct action by the interim head, although it has also been suggested that opening up to public comment seeks to legitimize the final design of the framework.
In the past, US regulators -including the CFTC, the SEC, the Department of Justice, and FinCEN- have cracked down on cases in which platforms allowed US residents to operate under conditions that the regulator deemed circumvented local regulations. The new FBOT route does not erase that history; Rather, it seeks to offer an orderly alternative for activity to develop with control and oversight, although it remains to be seen how it will reconcile policy with the legal proceedings already underway.
Effects on Liquidity and Service Supply
Market sources estimate that if a significant number of exchanges decide to adopt FBOT registration, markets could see greater connectivity between regional segments and an increase in the availability of trading pairs for US customers. This, in turn, could alleviate the concentration of volume in certain operators and expand options for users who have so far had limited access due to state restrictions and local entity differences, such as Binance.US, which is not present in all states.
The CFTC has made it clear that it will review public comments before defining final requirements and that its stated intention is to balance user protection with the ability for the digital financial industry to operate within the United States.