SEC, CFTC Step Up Joint Oversight, Expand Focus Beyond Spot Crypto Trading 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced they will expand their cooperation beyond spot cryptocurrency oversight, marking a sharp departure from the previous administration and aligning with President Donald Trump’s directive to broaden access to crypto asset products.  

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham emphasized that “it is a new day at the SEC and the CFTC,” underscoring their shared goal of ensuring that regulation supports innovation rather than stifles. The initiative begins with their recent joint staff statement on spot crypto products but is intended to extend much further, with the agencies examining ways to harmonize product and venue definitions, streamline reporting and data standards, align capital and margin frameworks, and establish coordinated innovation exemptions. 

The regulators outlined several specific areas of focus, including the potential extension of trading hours to 24/7 for certain asset classes, greater clarity on event contracts for prediction markets, the treatment of perpetual contracts that are common offshore but limited in the U.S., and standardized approaches for posting collateral to meet margin requirements.  

They also stressed their intention to create “innovation exemptions” and safe harbors for peer-to-peer spot crypto trading, framing self-custody of assets as a core American principle. To advance the dialogue, the SEC and CFTC will co-host a regulatory roundtable on September 29, which they described as an opportunity to shape priorities for regulatory harmonization. 

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