The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — the sister agencies that will regulate most crypto activity in the U.S. — have been rivals in the past on crypto issues, but they are now seeking a formal memorandum of understanding to combine the agencies’ efforts, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said.
“We are reorienting our approach to a new golden age of regulatory consistency,” Atkins was to declare Tuesday in a speech prepared for the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Florida. “More than aligning our rules, a harmonized framework also requires coordinating our responses to businesses operating within it, including those that have questions of interpretation or request an exemption.”
Atkins said he has also directed his staff to begin holding joint meetings with CFTC employees on product requests, and that a new “harmonization” website will allow companies to request coordinated discussions with both agencies.
“Companies should not be moved between regulators when a product touches elements of both regulatory frameworks,” he said. “Nor should clarity depend on which agency speaks first.”
The division of roles between the SEC, which regulates securities and the exchanges on which they trade, and the CFTC, the commodities watchdog that oversees derivatives markets, has been a key source of friction in the process of establishing crypto trading in the United States. No formal rules have been established to indicate where crypto products belong, and years of regulatory action and legal disputes have resulted.
Since the arrival of President Donald Trump’s appointed leaders, both agencies have adopted friendly crypto policies as a top priority, in line with the president’s requests. They are currently working on several policies, including policies to clarify how digital assets will be defined as securities and commodities.
Formalized cooperation will also extend to enforcement decisions and regulatory reviews, which will become a more common feature for crypto companies as they move deeper into federal oversight. This could save companies from having to undergo repetitive reviews.
“Coordinated examination scheduling for dual-regulated entities should become standard practice,” Atkins said. “Sharing audit findings, subject to assurances of confidentiality, should be the norm rather than the exception.”
Atkins also revisited his plans to chart a path for super-apps that allow users to do business in both agencies’ jurisdictions.
“In the tech world, a super-app integrates multiple services into a single seamless interface,” he said. “The user does not switch between separate systems to perform related tasks. Instead, integration happens invisibly behind the scenes.”
Read more: CFTC Chairman Highlights Broad Crypto Agenda, Including Rules on DeFi and Prediction Markets
