The agencies pledge to “usher in a new era of innovation” through a collaboration on rules and exemptions that aims to provide digital asset markets with clarity.
The SEC’s Project Crypto and the CFTC’s Crypto Sprint were launched over the summer to implement the recommendations of the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report on “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (the PWG Report), which was itself prepared and published pursuant to President Trump’s January 2025 executive order on digital assets. (For more on the launch, see this Latham blog post. For more on the report, see this Latham blog post.)
Now the SEC and the CFTC have issued a joint statement on regulatory harmonization and a joint statement on the trading of certain spot commodity products. In addition, the CFTC has issued an advisory reaffirming the availability of its foreign board of trade regime (for both traditional and digital asset market participants), and both agencies have published their Spring 2025 regulatory agendas.
Joint Statement on Agency Harmonization
On September 5, 2025, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham issued a joint statement (the Harmonization Statement) on regulatory harmonization opportunities and announced a September 29, 2025, joint agency roundtable to discuss regulatory harmonization priorities. The Harmonization Statement heralds “a new day at the SEC and the CFTC” that seeks to, according to the SEC’s press release, “provide markets the clarity they deserve.” The Harmonization Statement also highlights “the innovations that greater harmonization of SEC and CFTC regulatory frameworks can unleash.”
A primary motivating force behind the Harmonization Statement is the administration’s goal to provide regulatory clarity for the digital asset market in a manner that helps solidify the United States as the global leader of crypto and blockchain technology. Of particular note, the Harmonization Statement states that “both agencies are prepared to consider ‘innovation exemptions’ to create safe harbors or exemptions that allow market participants to engage in peer-to-peer trading of spot, leveraged, margined, or other transactions in spot crypto assets, including derivatives such as perpetual contracts, over DeFi protocols.” The Harmonization Statement also describes the right to self-custody one’s assets as a “core American value.”
The agency chairs emphasized that the SEC and the CFTC should also collaboratively consider:
- expanding trading hours for US markets;
- clarifying parameters around prediction markets and event contracts;
- loosening restrictions that have contributed to the limited availability of perpetual derivative contracts in the US and onshoring these contracts to trade on SEC- and CFTC-regulated exchanges;
- establishing a coordinated and streamlined framework for portfolio margining across product classes;
- harmonizing product and venue definitions; and
- streamlining reporting and data standards.
Joint Statement on Trading of Spot Commodity Products
On September 2, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk (collectively, the Divisions) issued a joint statement (the Spot Commodity Joint Statement) expressing that, in the Divisions’ view, current law does not prohibit SEC- and CFTC- registered exchanges from facilitating the trading of certain spot commodity products, namely leveraged, margined, or financed retail commodity transactions on digital assets (Retail Commodity Transactions).
According to the Spot Commodity Joint Statement, the Divisions aim to “promote trading venue choice and enhance market optionality for market participants” as part of an effort to position the United States as a favorable environment for both regulatory oversight and crypto innovation, in line with recommendations from the PWG Report.
According to the Divisions, current law does not prohibit CFTC-registered designated contract markets (DCMs), CFTC-registered foreign boards of trade (FBOTs), or SEC-registered national securities exchanges (NSEs) from facilitating the trading of Retail Commodity Transactions.
The Divisions identified the following as relevant considerations for market participants seeking to facilitate trading in Retail Commodity Transactions:
- Margin, clearing, and settlement: Applicable rules permit clearinghouses to partner with custodians to maintain customer accounts.
- Monitoring of underlying markets: Sharing of reference pricing venues by NSEs, DCMs, and FBOTs enhances effective market surveillance.
- Public dissemination of trade data: Public dissemination of transactions by NSEs and DCMs provides the public with valuable data.
- Promoting fair and orderly markets: Efficient executions and transparency promote trading opportunities and competition among market participants.
- Innovation with investor and customer protections: Technological innovations in markets and trading are beneficial, so long as investor and customer protections are secured.
The Spot Commodity Joint Statement indicates a readiness by both agencies to engage with market participants regarding any questions that may arise on these topics. The Divisions also pledged to promptly review filings and requests from DCMs, FBOTs, and NSEs that seek to operate markets for Retail Commodity Transactions.
Chair Atkins stated that “[t]he SEC is committed to working with the CFTC to ensure that our regulatory frameworks support innovation and competition in these rapidly evolving [digital asset] markets.” Acting Chair Pham remarked that the Spot Commodity Joint Statement “is the latest demonstration of [the SEC and CFTC’s] mutual objective of supporting growth and development in these markets, but it will not be the last,” anticipating further agency actions to support the growth and development of US digital asset markets.
CFTC Staff Advisory on FBOT Registration
On August 28, 2025, the CFTC Division of Market Oversight issued an advisory (the FBOT Advisory) reaffirming the availability of the CFTC’s existing FBOT registration framework for non-US entities legally organized and operating outside the United States that seek to provide persons physically located in the United States with direct market access to their trading platforms. According to Acting Chair Pham’s announcement of the FBOT Advisory, “[t]he CFTC’s FBOT registration framework applies to all markets, regardless of asset class, and includes both traditional and digital asset markets.”
The existing FBOT registration process under Part 48 of the CFTC’s regulations involves a number of requirements, notably a demonstration that:
- the foreign exchange seeking CFTC registration is subject to comprehensive supervision and regulation in its home jurisdiction comparable to the CFTC’s supervision and regulation of DCMs and derivatives clearing organizations;
- the foreign exchange’s home country regulators have information-sharing agreements in place with the CFTC; and
- the foreign exchange has implemented stringent compliance and market integrity measures.
The FBOT Advisory reaffirms the FBOT registration framework, stating that “[f]or the avoidance of doubt, a FBOT that is registered with the CFTC in accordance with the Part 48 rules does not need to become a DCM in order to provide U.S.-located members or other participants with direct access to the electronic trading and order matching system of the FBOT.”
According to Acting Chair Pham, the FBOT Advisory “provides the regulatory clarity needed to legally onshore trading activity that was driven out of the United States due to the unprecedented regulation by enforcement approach of the past several years.” In a speech on September 18, 2025, Chair Pham reiterated the message that the CFTC will work to “legally onshore trading activity efficiently and safely under CFTC regulations.”
She also added that the CFTC will “explore whether trading platforms authorized under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), or similar virtual asset or crypto asset regimes, would also qualify under the CFTC’s current cross-border frameworks.”
Foreign digital asset exchanges seeking to serve US-based digital asset traders may wish to consider whether, in light of their home country licensing and supervision, pursuing an FBOT registration with the CFTC could be a viable avenue to increased market access and liquidity.
Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda
On September 4, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget released the SEC’s Spring 20251 Regulatory Agenda (the SEC Agenda). The SEC Agenda contemplates multiple potential rulemakings, including a number of rulemakings that either expressly contemplate or could directly impact digital assets. These include:
- rules relating to the offer and sale of digital assets;
- amendments to existing rules to account for the trading of digital assets on alternative trading systems and NSEs;
- amendments to existing rules regarding the scope of, and exceptions from, the term “dealer”;
- amendments to existing books and records rules to address the application of these rules to digital assets;
- amendments to existing rules or new rules to modernize regulation of client and fund asset custody, including digital assets; and
- modernization of transfer agent rules to address digital assets and the use of distributed ledger technology by transfer agents.
According to a statement issued by Chair Atkins, “A key priority of my Chairmanship is clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.” In alignment with the PWG Report and Trump administration policy, the SEC Agenda (along with the Harmonization Statement, the Spot Commodity Joint Statement, and the FBOT Advisory) “represent the [SEC]’s renewed focus on supporting innovation, capital formation, market efficiency, and investor protection” in the digital asset markets.
The CFTC also released its Spring 20252 Regulatory Agenda (the CFTC Agenda) on September 4, 2025. While digital asset-related rulemakings are less prominent in the CFTC Agenda, one notable inclusion is a reopening of comment on the CFTC’s “Concept Release on the Appropriate Regulatory Treatment of Event Contracts.” In an accompanying statement, Acting Chair Pham emphasized that the CFTC Agenda “demonstrates that the CFTC is getting back to basics,” with a focus on withdrawing rulemakings that impose “excessive and unnecessary costs” and completing cleanup work and right-sizing of rules under the CFTC’s Dodd-Frank Act authority.