Crypto companies are pushing further into financial services long dominated by banks, and their latest target is the settlement layer of the United States derivatives market, where billions of dollars change hands every day. The advance is unfolding as US regulators broaden the services trust companies may provide, even as traditional banking groups challenge parts of the regulatory framework governing crypto firms' expansion into banklike activities.

A Nov. 5 decision by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) illustrates the shift. The agency's relief allows derivatives clearinghouses to use trust companies for daily settlements with clearing members — a function that, under the CFTC's own regulations, had previously been reserved for banks.

The opening could create new business for regulated crypto custodians. Yet the relief's revocable nature, combined with a changing US political landscape, raises questions about how durable the regulatory opening will prove.

Crypto firms eye billions in daily derivatives settlements

The scale of the settlement business frames the opportunity. Clearinghouses sit at the center of derivatives trading, standing between the two sides of every contract so that money owed between their clearing members can be settled each business day. CME Group, one of the world's largest derivatives market operators, transferred an average of $8.7 billion per business day through its clearing systems in the first half of 2026, up from $6.7 billion a day in 2025, according to regulatory filings.

Those figures represent funds transferred between clearing firms to settle gains and losses — not fees earned by settlement banks. They nevertheless illustrate the scale of financial flows supported by infrastructure that trust companies could increasingly help provide.

The CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk issued the no-action relief on Nov. 5 in response to an Oct. 29 request from derivatives clearinghouse Nodal Clear. Clearinghouses may now use trust companies — financial institutions chartered to hold and safeguard client assets — for daily settlements, provided those firms meet the same evaluation and monitoring requirements applied to traditional settlement banks.

The decision resolves an inconsistency between federal commodities law, which permits customer funds to be held at banks or trust companies, and CFTC Regulation 39.14, which defines settlement banks solely as banks. Until the relief, that mismatch left trust companies eligible to hold customer funds under commodities law but excluded from the settlement role the CFTC's own rules reserved for banks.

Nodal Clear partnered with Coinbase in 2025 to integrate USDC, a US dollar-backed stablecoin, into US futures trading, and Coinbase Custody Trust was already expected to provide daily settlement services under that arrangement, Cointelegraph has learned.

Related: CFTC expands regulatory relief for passive trading software providers

Other crypto firms have also broadened their institutional offerings. On Nov. 4, BitGo launched its Global Markets division, combining derivatives trading, financing, collateral management and settlement capabilities. Coinbase's national trust bank charter took effect on Nov. 6, allowing Coinbase National Trust Company — a separate entity from Coinbase Custody Trust — to provide federally supervised digital asset custody services.

Several other major crypto firms have secured US national trust bank approvals in recent months, including Circle, Ripple, Crypto.com and Stripe-owned Bridge. The charters, issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), underscore the industry's expansion into federally regulated financial services.

Traditional banks contest crypto firms' expanding role

The rise of specialized trust companies has drawn objections from traditional banking groups. In October, the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC, arguing that its national trust bank charter rules could allow crypto firms to conduct certain banklike activities without meeting all the requirements imposed on conventional banks. The lawsuit reflects a broader disagreement over how specialized financial institutions should be regulated as they expand into services also provided by banks.

Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, told Cointelegraph that the CFTC's relief does not place trust companies in a better or worse position than traditional banks. Trust companies and banks already compete for services permitted under their respective charters, he said, adding that the decision gives clearinghouses more options without preventing banks from retaining their business. "A trust company charter is not a regulatory shortcut," he said.

Revocable relief faces a shifting regulatory landscape

For all the potential opportunity, the CFTC's decision leaves open the question of how firmly trust companies can establish a long-term role in derivatives settlement. The agency issued a no-action letter rather than formally amending its regulations, stating that CFTC staff will not recommend enforcement action against clearinghouses that use trust companies for daily settlements if specified conditions are met.

Unlike a formal rule amendment, which generally requires a public notice-and-comment process, staff no-action relief leaves the underlying regulation unchanged and can be withdrawn.

"A change in Commission leadership could withdraw the CFTC Letter. More formal Commission action, such as amending the regulation, would be necessary to avoid this potential risk," Jordan Yeagley, a shareholder at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, told Cointelegraph.

The uncertainty lands at a politically significant moment for the agency. CFTC Chair Michael Selig remains the regulator's sole commissioner even though its statutory structure provides for five. Selig has led the agency since December 2025, leaving four seats vacant as the regulator expands its work on digital asset markets.

The political environment is also shifting after the Nov. 3 US midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. The incoming Congress, seated in January, will hold greater power to scrutinize the CFTC's regulatory agenda. The Senate must also confirm nominees to fill the agency's vacant commissioner seats, while the House and Senate Agriculture Committees oversee the regulator. Those moving parts — the confirmation of nominees to the vacant seats, committee oversight and any eventual Commission action to amend Regulation 39.14 — will help determine whether the settlement opening matures into formal policy or remains revocable staff relief.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, who won Ohio's Senate race on Nov. 3 despite more than $60 million in opposition spending from crypto-backed political action committees, could take on a prominent role on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

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