U.S. Regulators Propose Supportive Measures for Cryptocurrency Markets

According to PANews, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chairman Caroline Pham have jointly proposed several initiatives aimed at supporting cryptocurrency markets. Among these is a proposal for a '24/7 market' similar to traditional financial markets, designed to align the U.S. economy with the pace of digital asset markets. This policy would enable continuous online trading on stock exchanges. For 154 years since Wall Street introduced continuous trading, such markets have adhered to strict trading schedules, open only during specific business hours on weekdays since 1985. However, the chairpersons indicated that adjustments might be necessary to keep up with constantly active markets like cryptocurrency, gold, and foreign exchange. The chairpersons also suggested easing restrictions for 'innovators' to launch event contracts in prediction markets and allowing perpetual derivatives contracts—common in offshore cryptocurrency markets but currently heavily restricted in the U.S.—to be freely traded between securities and commodity exchanges. Another proposal involves establishing an 'innovation exemption' for DeFi protocols offering spot cryptocurrency and perpetual derivatives contract trading. The chairpersons noted that these proposals align with a report released by the Trump administration in July, which directed agencies to relax many restrictions on U.S. cryptocurrency trading.