The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a no-action letter granting limited regulatory relief to Bitnomial Exchange and Bitnomial Clearinghouse covering certain event contract transactions.
CFTC Issues No-Action Letter On Bitnomial Event Contract Transactions
9 January 2026 - 11:50 CET
By Matt Neill
In the letter, published on 8 Jan, CFTC staff said they would not recommend enforcement action for failures to meet specific swap data reporting and recordkeeping requirements, provided the activity falls within clearly defined parameters.
The relief applies to binary and bounded event contracts traded on Bitnomial Exchange, a designated contract market, and cleared through Bitnomial Clearinghouse, a registered derivatives clearing organization.
The agency stressed that the narrowly scoped position is aligned with similar no-action relief granted to other regulated exchanges and clearing houses.
It does not represent a broader relaxation of swap reporting rules, but is intended to address structural mismatches between legacy swap regulations and exchange-traded event contracts, which differ from bespoke over-the-counter derivatives.
New leadership, policy continuity
The decision comes as the CFTC consolidates its leadership and policy direction heading into 2026.
Newly confirmed chair Michael Selig has reinforced the agency’s digital asset and market structure agenda with the return of Amir Zaidi as chief of staff, a senior official who played a key role in the approval of the first CFTC-regulated Bitcoin futures contracts in 2017.
His return follows the departure of acting chair Caroline Pham and signals continuity in the commission’s approach to crypto and derivatives oversight.
Easing restrictions
Over the past year, the CFTC has increasingly relied on targeted supervisory tools, including no-action letters and interpretive guidance, to accommodate new products under existing rules.
This has included easing restrictions on prediction markets, authorising spot crypto trading on regulated futures exchanges and advancing pilot initiatives around tokenised collateral.
Within that framework, the Bitnomial relief reflects a broader regulatory recalibration, aimed at reducing operational friction for compliant venues while keeping permissions conditional, limited in scope and subject to ongoing supervision.
