Two regulators, one direction: key takeaways from the SEC-CFTC joint statements on crypto markets

SEC and CFTC Set the Pace

Joint Statement from the Divisions

On September 2, 2025, the staff of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk (together, the “Divisions”) issued a targeted joint statement setting out the Divisions’ view that current U.S. law does not prohibit CFTC-registered designated contract markets (“DCMs”), CFTC-registered foreign boards of trade (“FBOTs”) and SEC-registered national security exchanges (“NSEs,” and together with DCMs and FBOTs, “Registered Exchanges”) from facilitating trading in certain spot crypto asset products.

In the announcement, the Divisions commit to promptly reviewing filings and requests by Registered Exchanges seeking to facilitate trading of certain spot crypto asset products. In preparing registrations, proposals or requests for appropriate relief, the Divisions encourage market participants seeking to operate markets and trade spot crypto asset products to consider the Divisions’ views in the following areas:

• Margin, clearing, and settlement frameworks: In the Divisions’ view, applicable rules permit clearinghouses to partner with custodians, and the Divisions are available to answer questions from the entities they regulate
• Monitoring of underlying markets: In the Divisions’ view, sharing of reference pricing venues by Registered Exchanges enhances effective market surveillance. The Divisions are ready to assist with questions about effective information sharing
• Public dissemination of trade data: In the Divisions’ view, public dissemination of transactions by NSEs and DCMs provides the public with valuable market data. The Divisions are ready to engage with questions about how to make spot crypto asset market data publicly available
• Promoting fair and orderly markets: In the Divisions’ view, efficient executions and transparency promote trading opportunities and competition. The Divisions are available to engage with trading venues about applying these principles as the venues seek to operate markets to trade spot crypto asset products
• Innovation with investor and customer protections: The Divisions are ready to work with market participants to encourage innovation in markets and trading while protecting investors and customers

In addition to building on the recommendations of the PWG Report, the Divisions’ joint statement and further coordination between the SEC and CFTC are steps in the SEC’s “Project Crypto” and the CFTC’s “Crypto Sprint.” The SEC’s Project Crypto aims to modernize U.S. securities regulation by clarifying when digital assets are securities, setting updated rules for custody, staking and trading, enabling on-chain markets, and creating efficient licensing frameworks that foster innovation. The CFTC’s Crypto Sprint similarly aims to promote regulatory clarity for the digital assets market from the commodities side by beginning to implement the recommendations in the PWG Report.

Joint Statement from the SEC Chairman and CFTC Acting Chairman

On September 5, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham released a joint statement following the Divisions’ joint statement. In the statement, the officials stated that there is an increasing convergence between securities and non-securities markets. According to Chairman Atkins and Acting Chairman Pham, this convergence necessitates regulatory cooperation and harmonization. The first step in this cooperation is the Divisions’ joint statement on spot crypto asset products. Chairman Atkins and Acting Chairman Pham indicate that the SEC and CFTC should in the future consider harmonizing product and venue definitions, streamlining reporting and data standards, aligning capital and margin frameworks, and publishing coordinated “innovation exemptions” using each agency’s existing exemptive authority.

Chairman Atkins and Acting Chairman Pham also announced a joint SEC-CFTC roundtable to be held on September 29, 2025. The priority areas for discussion at the roundtable will be interagency collaboration on:

• The feasibility of 24/7 trading hours (where appropriate)
• Clarifying when event contracts can be listed on U.S. prediction markets
• Onshoring, and potentially allowing the trading on SEC- and CFTC-regulated platforms, of derivatives without a defined expiry date (i.e., perpetual contracts)
• A coordinated framework for portfolio margining, including, inter alia, action to allow clearing houses to offer portfolio-based margin across product lines
• “Innovation exemptions” to create safe harbors or exemptions enabling market participants to engage in peer-to-peer trading of spot, leveraged, margined, or other transactions in spot crypto assets over decentralized finance protocols

SEC approves generic listing rules for crypto ETPs

In furtherance of the views expressed in the Divisions’ joint statement, on September 18, 2025, the SEC voted to approve rule changes by The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. and NYSE Arca, Inc. (together, the “Exchanges”) to adopt generic listing standards for exchange-traded products (“ETPs”) that hold spot commodities, including ETPs holding crypto asset commodities. Specifically with regard to crypto assets, the rule changes permit the Exchanges to list and trade ETPs holding crypto asset commodities, as long as such ETPs meet the requirements of the approved listing standards, without submitting rule change requests to the SEC. In the words of SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, this “streamlined listing process will benefit investors, issuers, other market participants and the SEC by reducing the time and resources required to bring new ETPs to market.” However, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw cautioned that, in approving generic listing rules for digital asset ETPs, the SEC is “passing the buck” and risking investor protection by applying generic listing standards prematurely. In Commissioner Crenshaw’s view, generic listing rules have a history of being implemented cautiously after a long track record of experience with an investment product, and not to “unanticipated, novel products” with unique risks like digital assets.

Market implications

The SEC-CFTC joint statements and recent SEC guidance demonstrate regulators’ commitment to working together to formulate a regulatory framework for crypto assets. The statements emphasize that the two agencies will collaborate as part of their respective crypto initiatives. According to the statements, this is intended to foster the creation of a clear regulatory framework to encourage (i) innovation in the crypto space to return to the United States and (ii) participation from institutional investors, including asset managers, pension funds, and insurers, who have been cautious previously in the absence of clear regulatory direction.

It is important to remember that the Divisions’ joint statement and the statement from Chairman Atkins and Acting Chairman Pham, like other SEC and CFTC statements, have no legal force or effect and do not alter or amend applicable law. The exact contours of the regulations that the SEC and CFTC may seek to implement, and any legislation that Congress may pass, remain to be seen in the absence of proposed rulemaking to date.

The information is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.

Authored by Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Nick Hoover, Alex Parkhouse, and Haebin Lee.