CFTC Broadens No-Action Relief for Passive Crypto Software Providers

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has broadened a no-action position so that any developer of “passive software” that lets users trade crypto derivatives no longer risks enforcement as an unregistered broker, according to a CFTC press release published September 17. The move extends an earlier March letter that applied only to a single self-custodial wallet developer, and it removes a layer of registration uncertainty for DeFi interfaces and crypto wallet software.

From One Wallet Developer to the Whole Industry

Set out in CFTC Staff Letter No. 26-25, the position follows Letter 26-09, which the Market Participants Division issued on March 17, 2026 to Phantom Technologies, a developer of software that passively enables trading in Commission-regulated derivatives products through self-custodial crypto asset wallet software. Because only the named beneficiary of a no-action letter may rely on it, Phantom’s relief could not be used by any other firm. The new letter, issued after the Division received inquiries from other providers and their counsel, makes equivalent relief broadly available to all “Passive Software Providers.”

What the Relief Actually Covers

Subject to certain conditions, the Division will not recommend that the Commission bring an enforcement action against a provider or its relevant personnel for failing to register as an introducing broker under Section 4d(g) of the Commodity Exchange Act, or as an associated person of an introducing broker under Section 4k(1) and Regulation 3.12(a). The relief applies solely to the provision and marketing of software that facilitates trading by users with registered futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and designated contract markets. The Commission has long read the “soliciting and accepting” language that defines an introducing broker broadly, which is why passive interfaces sat in legal limbo.

Temporary Relief Ahead of Rulemaking

The position lasts only until the effective date of a Commission rulemaking or guidance that addresses how the introducing-broker registration requirement applies to software developers. It arrives as the CFTC has been signaling it will write crypto rules without waiting on Congress after the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate, with the agency’s chairman putting staff on notice to prepare them, and as market participants press the regulator for clearer treatment of crypto derivatives such as perpetual contracts.