CFTC Clears Path for Americans to Trade on Offshore Crypto Exchanges

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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an advisory clarifying that offshore cryptocurrency exchanges can legally serve clients in the United States by registering under the Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT).

This move, part of a broader “crypto sprint,” could reshape the landscape of crypto trading in the United States by allowing offshore exchanges to serve US-based customers, including the world’s largest exchange Binance. 

Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said in the advisory:

By reaffirming the CFTC’s longstanding approach to provide US traders with choice and access to the deepest and most liquid global markets, with a wide range of products and asset classes, American companies that were forced to set up shop in foreign jurisdictions to facilitate crypto asset trading now have a path back to US markets.

The FBOT registration pathway, established in the 1990s and applicable to all asset classes, has existed for decades. However, enforcement actions based on “novel interpretations” led to regulatory ambiguity that discouraged many global exchanges from serving American customers. With the new guidance, non-US platforms may once again accept US traders, provided they register and comply with CFTC regulations.

Pham emphasized that the advisory aims to “legally onshore trading activity” and that the CFTC “opens up US markets to the rest of the world.”