Source: Joint Statement by U.S. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins and U.S. CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham; Compiled by: Golden Finance
With the increasing integration of securities and non-securities markets, we are pleased to begin a new chapter of coordination among U.S. market regulators. The work of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has never been more intertwined, and the wave of innovation we face has never been more dependent on the depth of our collaboration. Coordination among U.S. market regulators is critical to the viability of a wide range of innovative products. Today, building on our agencies' joint statement on facilitating trading in certain spot crypto-asset products, we highlight the innovation that can be achieved through greater coordination of the SEC and CFTC regulatory frameworks. While the statutory scope of securities and commodity derivatives regulations differs, U.S. regulators must be flexible and agile to foster innovation in new markets and products. The SEC and CFTC must work together to ensure that a regulatory "no man's land" does not emerge due to inaction by one or both. Failures in coordination and the resulting regulatory uncertainty have stifled productive economic activity, even when these products were otherwise permitted under federal law. This is history. It's a new day for the SEC and CFTC, and today we reaffirm the importance of ensuring that regulation does not become an impediment to progress. By aligning our efforts, our two agencies can transform our nation's unique regulatory framework into a source of strength for market participants, investors, and all Americans. The September 3rd joint statement on spot crypto-asset products is just the first step. Within existing regulations, and where it serves the public interest, our respective agencies should consider harmonizing product and venue definitions; streamlining reporting and data standards; aligning capital and margin frameworks; and leveraging our existing exemptions to establish a coordinated innovation exemption. Working together, our agencies can consider how to develop reliable solutions for innovators and investors, while maintaining our statutory responsibilities and enhancing U.S. competitiveness and market integrity. We look forward to a future where the convergence of our regulations is not a point of friction, but a source of clarity. Next Steps—Bringing New and Innovative Products Back to the United States Today, we announced a joint SEC and CFTC roundtable on September 29, 2025, to discuss regulatory coordination. As outlined in the President's Task Force on Digital Asset Markets' report on strengthening U.S. digital fintech leadership, we are committed to using existing authorities to develop practical regulations for innovative products and trading platforms. The United States has long been a hub for financial innovation, but in recent years, regulatory fragmentation and legal uncertainty have forced some new products overseas. The SEC and CFTC should reverse this trend by coordinating product offerings, expanding market choice, and protecting investors through a clear, predictable, and innovation-friendly regulatory framework. We prioritize the following areas for possible coordination during the joint roundtable. To scale on-chain finance, the U.S. SEC and the U.S. CFTC should collaborate to consider the possibility of further extending trading hours, where appropriate. Factors relevant to this may include operational feasibility and liquidity consistent with investor and customer protection. Certain markets, including foreign exchange, gold, and crypto assets, already achieve continuous trading. Further extending trading hours could better adapt U.S. markets to the evolving reality of a continuously online global economy. Extending trading hours may be more feasible in some asset classes than others, so there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach for all products. Prediction markets have existed globally for decades, but their development continues to accelerate due to growing demand from market operators and the public. We should work together to provide clear guidance to innovators who wish to responsibly list event contracts, including security-based contracts, on prediction markets. The SEC and CFTC should explore opportunities for collaboration to explore circumstances under which event contracts can be offered to U.S. market participants, regardless of jurisdiction. Perpetual Swaps, derivatives without a defined expiration date, are common in offshore cryptocurrency markets. Jurisdictional and definitional restrictions limit their use in the United States. Authorities could consider concurrent measures to enable onshore perpetual swaps that meet investor and customer protection standards to be traded across platforms regulated by the SEC and CFTC. This would capture economic activity that currently flows only to foreign platforms and enable U.S. traders to access products with transparent leverage limits and robust risk management. A coordinated portfolio margin framework between the U.S. SEC and CFTC could potentially reduce capital inefficiencies by identifying offsetting positions across product categories. Currently, uncoordinated requirements and structural inefficiencies often force market participants to post collateral separately with SEC-registered and CFTC-registered institutions, even when their positions effectively hedge each other under economic conditions. By considering harmonizing margin requirements, the two agencies could enable broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, and clearing members to net their exposures more efficiently. This would reduce the cost of holding hedged positions, free up balance sheet capacity, and lower the barrier to entry for institutional and retail investors to participate in cross-market strategies. The two agencies should consider actions to allow clearing firms to offer portfolio-based margin across their respective product lines, thereby maintaining market resilience and avoiding duplicate registration or conflicting compliance burdens. By reducing capital lock-up while maintaining robust risk controls, the two agencies could promote liquidity, narrow spreads, and encourage innovation in market structure. This collaborative, streamlined process could significantly enhance market resilience and better position U.S. markets to compete internationally. The Innovation Exception and DeFi: Today's decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols enable direct, peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries. We reiterate that both agencies are prepared to consider an "innovation exception" to create safe harbors or exemptions that would allow market participants to conduct peer-to-peer transactions in spot, leveraged, margined, or other crypto assets (including derivatives such as perpetual contracts) through DeFi protocols. These safe harbors and exemptions would enable market participants to build commercially viable trading models while the agencies advance long-term rulemaking. The right to self-custody assets is a core American value. While market participants can conduct spot cryptocurrency trading in federally regulated venues under existing law, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency spot trading remains unimpeded. We encourage market participants to engage with our respective staff as entrepreneurs, conduct domestic trading activities, and innovate.
Conclusion
Today, we are ready to recalibrate our regulatory cooperation and usher in a new era of innovation. By aligning regulatory frameworks, leveraging exemptions, and collaborating on innovative products and trading platforms, our two agencies can unlock new opportunities for market participants, foster innovation, and strengthen the United States' global leadership in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Building on the recommendations of the PWG report, we can work to foster a regulatory environment that supports American businesses to thrive, innovate, and lead in global markets. Working together, we can ensure that the next chapter of financial innovation is written in the United States and that the United States remains the world's premier destination for starting businesses, developing breakthrough technologies, and participating in capital markets.
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