A joint statement has followed a report earlier this year by a President’s Working Group, which was tasked with providing “regulatory clarity” on certain assets.
On Tuesday, it was announced in a joint statement by the two agencies that exchanges registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should be allowed to facilitate trading of some spot crypto products.
While no specific digital assets were mentioned, it was said by the SEC and CFTC, the primary regulators of asset markets, that their joint staff statement covers crypto products centered on “leverage, margin, and financed spot retail commodity transactions.”
A report titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” which was issued earlier this year by the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, asked the agencies to provide “regulatory clarity” on those assets and other related issues.
It was said by them on Tuesday that registered exchanges are not prohibited from facilitating trading of those spot crypto asset products under the law.
It is stated in the joint statement that “As contemplated by the PWG Report, the Divisions’ coordination will promote trading venue choice and optionality for market participants within the U.S.” It is also mentioned that “In line with these goals, the divisions stand ready to support consideration by their respective agencies of exchange trading in certain spot crypto asset products.”
The statement is among the latest evidence of the rapidly improving regulatory environment for digital assets under the Trump administration. The statement has been deemed as among the latest evidence of the rapidly improving regulatory environment for digital assets under the Trump administration.
Since Donald Trump’s eight-month tenure in office began, a number of lawsuits against notable crypto organizations have been dropped by the SEC and CFTC, which have also repeatedly signaled their willingness to work with an industry that had supported Trump’s 2024 campaign.
In a post on the social media platform X, Acting CFTC Chairman Caroline Pham commended working with SECPaulSAtkins to secure an additional triumph for regulatory clarity. She noted that this accomplishment was designed to let people trade cryptocurrencies safely and on their own terms via registered exchanges.
According to the statement, CFTC-registered designated contract markets, foreign boards of trade, and commodity transactions listed on an SEC-registered national securities exchange will not be forbidden from enabling the trade of certain spot crypto asset products.
SEC and CFTC Invite Market Participants for Direct Regulatory Engagement
An invitation for market participants to engage with SEC or CFTC personnel, as needed, was issued by the regulators.
Among other points, the agencies affirmed that under relevant regulations, clearinghouses will be permitted to collaborate with a custodial partner for managing customer holdings.
The agencies urged that the joint utilization of benchmark pricing sources by NSEs, DCMs, and FBOTs be undertaken to bolster market monitoring.
In a social media post on X, VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel commented that the statement implied that spot trading for BTC, ETH, and other digital assets could soon be provided by major equity exchanges, including the NYSE and Nasdaq.
The possibility was met with caution by Amanda Fischer, former SEC chief of staff to Gary Gensler, who also articulated worries about the statement’s lack of specificity and the dearth of a proper regulatory framework.
In a post on the social media platform X, Fischer wrote that despite the considerable fanfare, the statement fails to provide substantive answers. The core issue, she elaborated, is that the exchange, as a self-regulatory organization, and the SEC will hold limited to no legal authority to create, audit, or enforce trading or customer regulations, given that spot commodities trading on securities exchanges will not be covered under their typical oversight.
