The @CFTC just put a regulatory definition on self-custody. Monday's rulemaking covers CTXs — retail crypto trades on margin, leverage or financing. By statute those have to happen on a registered exchange, with one exception: if the trade results in "actual delivery" of the asset within 28 days, it falls outside the agency's jurisdiction. Nobody had defined what delivery means for a token. The CFTC just took a position. Chairman @MichaelSelig: "We propose to codify an interpretation of 'actual delivery' to clarify that delivery of a crypto asset to a user's external, non-custodial digital wallet within 28 days generally satisfies this exception." The Commission writes that control of a crypto asset "may require possession of the credentials (e.g., private key(s)) to the digital wallet address." And for tokens with governance or staking rights, delivery may require the capacity to govern "directly and on a disintermediated basis," and to stake "without being subject to fees charged by an intermediary." The flip side matters as much. A fully paid, open position that sits only on an exchange's internal book-entry stays subject to the Commodity Exchange Act and the framework that governs futures contracts. Self-custody is the thing that ends CFTC jurisdiction. An IOU on an exchange ledger does not. This is an advance notice, not a final rule. Comments run 60 days from Federal Register publication. Read more here: https://thedefiant.io/news/regulation/cftc-seeks-comment-crypto-rulebook-leaves-spot-exchanges-to-states-oct-05-2026