Two American regulators moved on 17 September 2026 to fill gaps that Congress has so far failed to close, giving European crypto firms operating in or alongside the US market a clearer, if narrower, picture of what is permitted without full broker or exchange registration.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a no-action letter, numbered 26-25 and coming from its Division of Market Participants, stating that it will not require wallet and interface software providers, or their staff, to register as brokers when their role in connecting users to regulated derivatives platforms remains passive. The exemption covers tools that let users review market data, view offers and send orders for perpetual or event contracts directly to futures or other regulated market platforms.
The conditions attached are strict. To retain the no-action position, developers must not take custody or control of client funds, must not retain those funds at any point, and must not generate explicit buy or sell signals. They are also barred from exercising technical discretion over how trades are routed. Firms relying on the exemption must supply risk disclosures to users and sign a document accepting joint and several liability with registered entities should regulatory violations occur.
SEC opens a temporary window for tokenised stocks
On the same day, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a temporary five-year regulatory path allowing trading of tokenised stocks. Under the arrangement, qualified platforms will be able to trade National Market System securities through liquidity pools built on automated market makers, a structure that departs from the order-book model most traditional exchanges use.
The permission comes with its own constraints, including volume limits and a requirement that platforms give issuing companies 30 days' advance notice before listing their shares in tokenised form — a provision that effectively grants those companies a veto over participation.
A framework still missing from Congress
The two actions land just two days after the US Senate failed to gather the 60 votes needed to advance debate on the Clarity Act, legislation intended to draw a firm line between SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets. Without that statute, the CFTC and SEC are addressing narrow slices of the market through no-action letters and temporary exemptions rather than a single federal framework.
For European firms building wallets, trading interfaces or tokenisation products with US exposure, the immediate effect is practical rather than legislative: passive software providers now have a defined, if conditional, route to avoid broker registration, and a narrow channel exists for tokenised equities trading. Neither development substitutes for the broader jurisdictional clarity that the Clarity Act was meant to provide, and with the bill stalled in the Senate, that clarity remains outstanding.
