The Commodity Futures Trading Commission published a Request for Information in the Federal Register on June 18, 2026, asking market participants to help it identify Commission regulations, guidance documents, orders, no-action letters, and other items that may impede fintech firms. The notice, carrying RIN 3038-ZA24 and appearing at 91 FR 36774, is styled as a proposed rule and lists 16 parts of Title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations within its scope. According to the document, comments must be received on or before July 9, 2026.

The RFI is grounded in an executive action. The Commission states that on May 19, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14405, titled “Integrating Financial Technology Innovation Into Regulatory Frameworks,” published at 91 FR 30475 (May 22, 2026). The Commission describes the order as directing the head of each Federal financial regulator, within 90 days, to review existing regulations, guidance, supervisory practices, and application processes to identify those that could be updated. The agency frames its inquiry in the same terms the order uses, balancing the stated goal of facilitating innovation against other statutory interests.

"E.O. 14405 directs the head of each Federal financial regulator (including the Commission), within 90 days of the date of E.O. 14405, to conduct a review of existing regulations, guidance, supervisory practices, and application processes to identify those that could be updated to facilitate innovation, and competition to financial products and services for fintech firms, particularly those that are small and emerging."— Commodity Futures Trading Commission, source

For readers tracking digital-asset policy, the relevance is in how the order defines its terms. The RFI quotes Executive Order 14405's definition of a “fintech firm” as any non-bank company that uses or develops technological means to offer or support the offering of financial products or services, including any application or digital or online technology that facilitates access to, management of, or data processing for those products or services. The Commission then reproduces the order's list of products and services that fall within scope. That list, per the document, may include payment processing, lending, deposit-taking, derivatives, investment management, brokerage services, underwriting and capital-market activities, custodial and fiduciary services, digital banking, “digital asset-related services,” securities and commodities market activities, and “blockchain-based services,” as well as activities set forth in paragraphs (A) through (G) of section 4(k)(4) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956.

What the Commission is asking for

The RFI's abstract specifies two categories of input. The Commission requests information on items that “may unduly impede fintech firms from entering into partnerships with financial infrastructures and intermediaries regulated by the Commission,” and separately on items that “could be amended to streamline application processes for eligible fintech firms seeking registrations and authorizations from the Commission.” The intermediaries it names are the registrant categories it oversees: futures commission merchants (FCMs), introducing brokers (IBs), swap dealers (SDs), commodity pool operators (CPOs), commodity trading advisors (CTAs), designated contract markets (DCMs), swap execution facilities (SEFs), derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs), and swap data repositories (SDRs). The document notes that the request covers these intermediaries whether or not they are registered with the Commission.

The Commission situates the inquiry within the Commodity Exchange Act. It states that the derivatives markets it oversees are “affected with a national public interest” because, among other things, they facilitate risk management and price discovery “through trading in liquid, fair and financially secure trading facilities.” It cites the CEA's stated purpose of serving that public interest through “a system of effective self-regulation of trading facilities, clearing systems, market participants and market professionals under the oversight of the Commission.” The document also lists the Commission's purposes as including deterring disruptions to market integrity, ensuring the financial integrity of transactions, avoiding systemic risk, protecting market participants from misuses of customer assets, and promoting responsible innovation and fair competition.

Timeline, scope, and how to comment

The RFI sets out two deadlines drawn from the executive order. The Commission states that the order directs it, within 90 days of the order's date, to complete the review, and within 180 days, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, to take steps to encourage innovation as a result of that review. The comment window itself is shorter: the document fixes July 9, 2026 as the date by which comments must be received. The notice runs three pages in the Federal Register, spanning pages 36774 to 36776.

On process, the RFI directs commenters to reference the title “Identifying Regulations to Facilitate Innovation and Competition to Financial Products and Services for Fintech Firms” and RIN 3038-ZA24. It lists submission methods including Regulations.gov, the “Submit A Public Comment” button on the Federal Register page, and mail or hand delivery to the Secretary of the Commission. The document instructs commenters to use only one of these methods. Because the order's definitions expressly enumerate digital asset-related and blockchain-based services, firms in those lines fall squarely within the population the Commission is soliciting. The RFI does not propose specific changes to any rule; it is a request for information that asks the public to identify the items the Commission should consider. Whether any regulation, guidance document, order, or no-action letter is ultimately amended is not addressed by this notice, which on its face seeks input rather than announcing an outcome.