SEC and CFTC Aim to Facilitate Trading of Spot Crypto Assets

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in a joint statement issued Tuesday (Sept. 2) that SEC- and CFTC-registered exchanges are not prohibited from facilitating the trading of certain spot crypto asset products.

The regulators are working together to provide market participants with trading venue choice and optionality, they said in a Tuesday press release.

The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk aim to facilitate the trading of certain spot crypto asset products on registered exchanges, building on recommendations of the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology,” and are ready to engage with market participants to consider exchange trading of these products, according to the release.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in the release that the joint statement is intended to help bring “innovation in the crypto asset markets back to America.”

“Market participants should have the freedom to choose where they trade spot crypto assets,” Atkins said. “The SEC is committed to working the CFTC to ensure that our regulatory frameworks support innovation and competition in these rapidly evolving markets.”

CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham said in the release that these efforts put an end to the previous administration’s “mixed signals” about regulation and compliance in digital asset markets.

“By working together, we can empower American innovation in these markets and build on President Trump’s collaborative approach to making America the crypto capital of the world,” Pham said. “Today’s joint agency statement is the latest demonstration of our mutual objective of supporting growth and development in these markets, but it will not be the last.”

The “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” report proposes a framework for clearer regulation, outlines the administration’s position on digital assets, and floats ideas ranging from tax modernization to regulatory innovation, PYMNTS reported on July 30 when the report was released.

In another recent move, the CFTC said Aug. 28 that its new foreign board of trade (FBOT) advisory provides regulatory clarity for non-U.S. exchanges that want to provide people in the U.S. with access to their trading platform and that it applies to both traditional and digital asset markets.