The CFTC has opened a consultation that could let traders post tokenized collateral — stablecoins included — against derivatives positions. The plan could speed up the shift of clearing and custody onto shared ledgers and would touch every intermediary clearing house and institutional user. The note outlines both context and impact.
The settlement that completes in seconds instead of days, a permanent ledger record that shows where collateral sits at any moment and less idle cash because tokenized assets move instantly. Some platforms already accept tokenized money-market-fund shares as margin.
But bottlenecks persist, including limited throughput, disjointed blockchains and bugs in smart contracts that can lock or lose collateral.
The CFTC’s crypto push
The proposal inside the draft GENIUS Act of 2025, a bill that would settle whether stablecoins count as lawful collateral. Until final rules spell out valuation, custody plus liability, uncertainty remains, and gaps between jurisdictions could let firms shop for the lightest supervisor.
Banks and asset managers would have to rebuild collateral engines to handle tokens. Jina highlights three threat vectors — code flaws or hacks that wipe out margin pools, thin liquidity that allows price manipulation, and reliance on oracles and validator nodes for prices as well as settlement. Real-time surveillance, higher haircuts and common technical standards are presented as the main defences.
Workable rules on valuation, safekeeping and oversight will decide whether stablecoins and other tokenized assets become everyday collateral.
