---
type: source
title: "Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act clears Senate Agriculture Committee — CFTC gets digital commodity spot market jurisdiction"
author: "Multiple sources (Senate Agriculture Committee, CNBC, Davis Wright Tremaine)"
url: https://www.consumerfinancialserviceslawmonitor.com/2026/02/digital-commodity-intermediaries-act-clears-senate-ag-committee/
date: 2026-01-29
domain: internet-finance
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: unprocessed
priority: high
tags: [dcia, regulation, cftc, digital-commodities, senate, market-structure]
---

## Content

The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced S. 3755, the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), on January 29, 2026 (party-line vote), led by Chairman John Boozman (R-AR).

**Core Components:**
- Clear legal definition of "digital commodities" under the Commodity Exchange Act
- CFTC gets exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over cash/spot transactions in digital commodities on registered intermediaries
- Spot market digital commodity intermediary regulatory regime
- Customer fund segregation requirements
- Conflict of interest safeguards
- Customer disclosure requirements
- Trading registration regime designed to onshore liquid, resilient regulated markets
- Protections for software developers and innovative technology
- New funding stream for CFTC to stand up spot market regulatory regime
- CFTC and SEC required to coordinate on inter-agency rulemakings

**Timeline:**
- CFTC must complete rulemaking within 18 months of enactment (in coordination with SEC)
- Effective date tied to rulemaking completion

**Next Steps:**
- Senate Banking Committee draft must also advance
- Two Senate drafts must be reconciled and merged
- Senate-approved bill must then be reconciled with House CLARITY Act
- Key disagreement: stablecoin yield/rewards treatment

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodity spot markets is exactly the regulatory framework that benefits futarchy. If futarchy tokens are classified as digital commodities, they operate under a single federal regulator rather than 50 state gaming commissions.
**What surprised me:** The party-line vote suggests this is politically polarized despite being nominally pro-innovation. If midterms shift control, the timeline could stall.
**What I expected but didn't find:** Any explicit carve-out for governance tokens or prediction markets. The legislation treats all digital commodities uniformly — futarchy markets would need to fit the general framework.
**KB connections:** [[Internet finance is an industry transition from traditional finance where the attractor state replaces intermediaries with programmable coordination and market-tested governance]] — regulatory clarity accelerates the transition.
**Extraction hints:** Claim about CFTC jurisdiction as enabling framework for futarchy. Update to regulatory uncertainty claims.
**Context:** This is one of two parallel Senate bills (alongside Banking Committee draft). Reconciliation process is the primary bottleneck.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[Internet finance is an industry transition from traditional finance where the attractor state replaces intermediaries with programmable coordination and market-tested governance]]
WHY ARCHIVED: CFTC exclusive jurisdiction framework directly enables futarchy governance by providing single federal regulatory path. Software developer protections also relevant for open-source futarchy infrastructure.
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on how CFTC jurisdiction creates a favorable regulatory environment for futarchy-governed tokens vs. the 50-state alternative.
